Organizing Committee Member
Yiannis Kourkoutas
Head of Laboratory/Associate Professor
Democritus University of Thrace
Greece
Biography
Associate Professor Yiannis Kourkoutas is Head of the Laboratory of Applied Microbiology & Biotechnology at the Department of Molecular Biology & Genetics, Democritus University of Thrace, at Alexandroupolis, Greece. He obtained his first degree in Chemistry in 1997 and his PhD in Food Biotechnology in 2002, both from the University of Patras, Greece. He further continued for Post-Doctoral studies at the University of Ulster, UK. His current main research focus is on bioprocesses, novel food product development and nutrition (novel functional foods with potential health benefits, exploitation of agro-industrial wastes, high-added value products, etc). He has more than 200 publications/communications, including 77 papers in peer-reviewed journals, 14 chapters in books, 105 conference proceedings and 4 patents (citations>1400; h-factor: 20). He has been invited as a plenary keynote lecturer and has served as chairman in several conferences. He has participated in many research projects (totaling more than 3,850,000€), coordinating most of them. His funds derive from EU (7th FP), National Grants (Generally Secretary of Research and Technology, Greece) and the Food/Agriculture Industry. He has also served as Associate Editor in scientific journals, as Lead Guest Editor in many special issues, as reviewer in a high number of scientific journals and as evaluator of research proposals in national and European calls.
Research Area
His works focus its action on the subjects of food and environmental biotechnology and nutrition, with the aim of developing innovative technologies for the production of (a) new functional foods with potential beneficial effects on health (probiotics and prebiotics, natural products with positive effects, pharmaceuticals food, etc.) and (b) high added value products through the exploitation of various waste from the agro-industry by combining modern applications of Biotechnology.