Bio
Pierluigi Plastina obtained his degree in Chemistry in 2002 and his PhD in Organic Chemistry in 2005 from University of Calabria (Rende, Italy). He was a research fellow at the Department of Chemistry of the same University in 2006–2007, working on the development of new methods for the quantitative analysis of bioactive compounds in food matrices by means mass spectrometric techniques. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the Division of Human Nutrition of Wageningen University (Wageningen, The Netherlands) in 2007–2008, working under the supervision of Professor Renger Witkamp on n-3 fatty acid ethanolamides with anti-inflammatory properties. Then, he moved back to University of Calabria as a research fellow working on the extraction, identification and pharmacological characterization of bioactive compounds from food matrices. He was a visiting scientist at the Wageningen University in 2012 and again in 2013. He is currently permanent senior researcher and adjunct professor of Food Chemistry at the Department of Pharmacy, Health and Nutrition Sciences of the University of Calabria. His main research interests are devoted to the investigation of bioactive lipids with potential anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anticancer and antidiabetic properties, and their identification in food matrices and waste materials.

Bio
Alberto Ritieni graduated in Biological Sciences in 1985 and obtained his specialization in Chemistry of Natural Products in 1986 at the University of Naples "Federico II" (Italy). He was the recipient of an ENI scholarship at the University of Milan (Italy) (1987–1989) and of a 2-year fellowship at CNR in Bari (Italy) (1990–1992). He was appointed as Researcher at the Department of Food Sciences at the University of Naples "Federico II" in 1993, and Associate Professor in 2002. From 2015, he has been a Full Professor at the same University. He received an Honorary Doctorate of Science in Natural and Agricultural Sciences Facultatea de Stiinte ale Naturii you Stiinte Agriculture Universitatea Ovidius Constanta (Romania) in 2010. From 2019, he has been an academic correspondent at the Georgofili Academy in Florence. He has been scientifically responsible for several national and international projects, and he is the author of more than 215 papers published in peer review international journals, and 37 book contributions. The group led by Prof. Ritieni has a solid international reputation and has an extensive network of international collaborations worldwide.

Bio
Nadia Mulinacci graduated with honors in Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technology at the University of Florence (Italy) in 1985. In 1990, she was appointed as Researcher at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. In 1992, she was at the Institut für Biologie der Universität München Pharmazeutische (Germany), under the supervision of Prof. H. Wagner. From 2001, she has been an Associate Professor at the University of Florence. She was Head of the Multidisciplinary Centre of Research on Food Sciences (Ce.R.A.-M.C.R.F.S.) of the University of Florence (2011–2019). She has been scientifically responsible for several funded projects, and she is the author of more than 160 papers published in peer-reviewed international journals. Her main research interests are devoted to the development of extractive and analytical methods for the determination of secondary bioactive metabolites, mainly from edible and medicinal plants and plant foods, and applications of chromatographic techniques and combined techniques of MS spectrometry and NMR for the structural characterization of different classes of natural compounds.

Bio
Prof. Francesco Cacciola is Associate Professor of Food Chemistry at the Department of Biomedical, Dental, Morphological and Functional Imaging Sciences of the University of Messina, Messina, Italy. He graduated in Pharmacy with 110/110 cum laude at the University of Messina in 2004, defending a thesis entitled "Micro/HPLC/ESI/MS for the determination of anthocianins inred wines". After graduation, from February 2005 to August 2006, he was a visiting researcher at the Department of Analytical Chemistry of the Faculty of Chemical Technology at the University of Pardubice (Czech Republic) for a state-sponsored international project (International Research Training Network) called "Training Young Researchers in Miniaturized Comprehensive Liquid Chromatography" (Acronym Com-Chrom) and for the "Bonino-Pulejo Foundation" under the supervision of Prof. Ing. Pavel Jandera, DrSc. He developed innovative analytical methods for the two-dimensional separation of polyphenols in beverages and plant extracts. In December 2005 he obtained the qualifications required to be a pharmacist. He received his Ph.D. in “Food and Safety Chemistry” from the University of Messina in 2009, defending a thesis entitled “Employment of High Resolution HPLC Techniques for the Analysis of Complex Matrices”. In 2009 he was awarded a scholarship to work for one year as post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Food Satefy and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN), Food and Drug Administration in College Park, Maryland, USA, under the supervision of Dr. Jeanne Rader. During his research stay, he worked on the characterization of bioactive compounds contained in Stevia rebaudiana extracts, by two-dimensional liquid chromatography. He currently teaches at the University of Messina. As of July 2021, he has authored and coauthored 140 articles published in indexed international scientific journals, 11 book chapters edited by international publishers, 5 abstracts in international journals and 3 in extenso contributions to national symposia.