María Pérez Jiménez

María Pérez Jiménez

Food Science & Technology, Integrated in MED
Food Science & Technology
Integrated in MED

About

María Pérez-Jiménez is a postdoctoral researcher at the Laboratory of Oral Biology and Salivary Proteomics, MED – University of Évora, Portugal. She holds a PhD in Food Science (2022, UAM-CSIC, Madrid). 

Her doctoral thesis focused on the impact of oral physiology and wine composition on aroma release and perception during consumption. It received four prestigious awards: Best European PhD Project - 1st Year (Giract, 2017), Best European Thesis in Flavour Research (Giract, 2023), Most Relevant PhD Thesis from CSIC (2024) and Margarita Salas Award in Applied Technology (2024, Municipality of Madrid).

Her research focuses on flavour perception and oral physiology, with emphasis on the role of saliva, particularly the salivary proteome, and its modulation by biological and dietary factors.

Currently, she holds two postdoctoral grants: a MSCA-ERA-Fellowship (Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions), call HORIZON-WIDERA-2023-TALENTS-02, and a CEEC Junior contract, funded by FCT (6th Edition).

Research Interests
  • Oral Determinants of Food Preferences
  • Saliva Biochemistry
  • Retronasal Aroma
  • Oral Flavour Perception
  • Saliva-Flavour interactions
  • Saliva Biomarkers

Personal Information

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Thematic lines to which I contribute:
Mediterranean Food & Diet

Projects

Project Funding Lead Institution Role Start End Scope
HealthyW8 - Empowering healthy lifestyle behaviour through personalised intervention portfolios to prevent and control obesity during vulnerable stages of life European Union (HORIZON-RIA) LUXEMBOURG INSTITUTE OF HEALTH Participant 2023-05-01 2028-04-30 Internacional
Future of plant-based food: Bridging the gap of new proteins and FLAVOURsome (FLAVOURsome) COST action Universidade do Porto Participant 2023-10-24 2027-10-23 Internacional
MACAOs - Modulation sAlivary Composition VisuAl and Odorant stimuli Acordo entre Portugal e França - Programa Pessoa 2023-2024 University of Evora Participant 2023-05-02 2024-12-31 Internacional
FLAVOUR2HEALTHYCHILD - Changes in salivary proteome and flavour perception induced by a physical activity program in overweight and obese children European Research Executive Agency (REA) MED MED Representative 2024-07-15 2026-07-14 Internacional