George-John NYCHAS [3 pages cv)
Professor George-John Nychas is the head of the Laboratory of Microbiology and Biotechnology of Foods (LMBF) of AUA, which was established in 1994. From March 2010 till July 2011 was the President of the Greek National Food Authority (EFET - Eniaios Foreas Asfaleias Trofimon www.efet.gr). He was member of the EFSA – Biohazard group, expert in Predictive modelling / Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) while recently he has joined the ERWG of EFSA. He has coordinated 6 EU projects and participated in more than 35 EU projects & concerted Action. Through these projects, the team of Prof. G. Nychas has acquired extensive experience on; a) the assessment of food safety and spoilage through microbiological analysis (pathogens spoilage organisms), and physicochemical analysis (metabolomics) in combination with multivariate statistical methods, such as MCFA, PCA, discriminant analysis and cluster analysis, b) on responses of stress adapted pathogens grown planktonically or attached on stainless steel surfaces (biofilms), and c) on modelling the behaviour of microbial populations throughout the food chain to assist reliable estimation of microbial food safety risk. d) Implementation of Process analytical technology (PAT) in Food Industry. He has published 278 papers (Scopus 20-10-20) with ca. 14120 citations and h=69.
A summary Table of the funding EU (exclusively) projects of this laboratory is provided below
Project title / participants countries (2002- till now - only EU funded projects)
Budget (K €)
Escherichia coli 0157:H7 rpoS site-directed mutants: ability to compete and survive in food. A Marie-Curie Pr.
118.0
Microbiological quality monitoring of sterilized milk using innovative electrical, magnetic electromagnetic and optical technologies for rapid reliable and sensitive detection of the total spoilage – Microqual- QLK1-1036 (FR, NL, UK, GR)
130.0
Assessment and improvement of safety of traditional dry sausages from producers to consumers (Fr, Hu, It, Gr, Sp, Sl) QoL 2240 DG12
185.0
Development and Application of a TT Safety Monitoring and Assurance System (SMAS) for Chilled meat products (Gr, Ir, UK, Sw, N,) QoL 2545
1-List of 10 top publications
5 high-cited publications (all years) and 5 recently published, both related to mathematical modelling / Risk Assessment is shown below;
Lambert, R.J.W., Skandamis, P., Coote, P.J., & Nychas, G-J.E. (2001), A study of the minimum inhibitory concentration and mode of action or oregano essential oil, thymol and carvacrol. J.Appl. Microbiol. 91, 453-462; (cited >850)
Nychas, G-J.E., P Skandamis, C.C. Tassou, & K. Koutsoumanis (2008) Meat spoilage during distribution. Meat Science 78, 77-89 (cited >200)
Skandamis, P. & Nychas, G-J, E. (2001) Effect of oregano essential oil on microbiological and physicochemical attributes of mince meat stored in air and modified atmospheres J.Appl.Micr. 91, 1011-1022 (cited >180)
Koutsoumanis, K. & Nychas, G-J. (2000) Application of a Systematic Experimental Procedure in Order to Develop a Microbial Model for Rapid Fish Shelf Life Predictions. IntJFd Micr 60,171(cited >140)
Tassou, C.C., Drosinos, E.H. & Nychas, G-J.E (1995) Effects of essential oil from mint (Mentha piperita) on S. enteritidis and L. monocytogenes in model food systems at 4 & 10oC JAB 78, 593 (>140)
Argyri, A. A., Mallouchos,A., Panagou, E.Z., and Nychas, G-J.E. (2015) The dynamics of the HS/SPME-GC/MS as a tool to assess the spoilage of minced beef stored under different packaging and temperature conditions. International Journal Food Microbiol 193, 51-58
Mohareb, F., Papadopoulou, O., Panagou, E., Nychas, G-J.E., Bessant, C., (2016) Ensemble-based support vector machine classifiers as an efficient tool for quality assessment of beef fillets from electronic nose data. Analytical Methods 8, 3711-3721
Lytou, A., Panagou, E. Z.,. Nychas, G-J.E., (2016) Development of a predictive model for the growth kinetics of aerobic microbial population on pomegranate marinated chicken breast fillets under isothermal and dynamic temperature conditions. Food Microbiology, Volume 55, 25-31
Nychas, G-J.E, Panagou, E.Z. & Mohareb, F. (2016) "Novel Approaches for Food Safety Management and Communication" Current Opinion in Food Science 12, 13-20.
Ropodi, A, E.Z. Panagou and G.-J. E. Nychas (2016) Data mining derived from Food analyses using non-invasive/non-destructive analytical techniques; Determination of Food authenticity, quality & safety in tandem with Computer Science Disciplines, Trends in Food Science & Technology 50,11-25
2- chapters or monographs (latest)
Skandamis P. and Nychas G-J. E (2014) Chapter 23 Pathogens: risks and control In Handbook of Fermented Meat and Poultry (the Work) Eds Fidel Toldra, Wai-Kit Nip, Joseph G. Sebranek, Louise H. Stahnke, Expedito-Tadeu F. Silveira and R Talon (Associate Editor) & Y.H. Hui 2nd Edition (in Press)
Blana, V., & Nychas, G (2014) Chapter 1Microbiological risk assessment of raw, fresh produce In CRC Press/Taylor & Francis Group ISBN: 9781466593060- “Microbial Food Safety and Preservation Techniques” Editors: V Ravishankar Rai and A Jamuna Bai (University of Mysore, Mysore, India)
Lianou, E.Z. Panagou, G.-J.E. Nychas (2016) Microbiological Spoilage of Foods and Beverages In The Stability and Shlef Life of Food 2nd Edition Ed. P. Subramaniam, ELSEVIER (Woodhead Publishing) pp.3-42
3- Participation in Scientific ‘ad-hoc’ and other decision-making EU and National policy bodies
National Representative in Standing Committee for Agriculture Research (SCAR), in European Union (EU), [March 91-Nov.92, Apr. 94]
Independent consultant of EU related to research policy priorities of 4th FP (July 94; DGVI)
Independent expert of Greece, for the Agricultural Policy in Greece (NAGREF- February 1995)
Member of the food sub-group of the FAIR Programme Committee [1995-1999], of EU
Participation in EU workshops either as Independent expert or member of the food sub-group of EU, as a decision making body to set research priorities for food biotechnology and fish sector (1998-1999)
Expert of the Greek delegation for the 6th FP (EU)
Heading the Greek Delegation of the 7th FP (2007-2013)
Participation in Scientific Committees related to Food Safety (EU & National Committees)
Member of the Biohazard Group of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) –expert in mathematical Modelling- Risk Assessment –Food Microbiology
Member of different Working Groups within the biohazard group (e.g. nitrites-nitrates, Enterobacter (Cronobacter) sakazakii, washing eggs on Microbiological criteria Food safety objectives etc
Participation in EU/USA workshops for the Scientific collaboration between these two regions (December 2003; Washington DC, USA) as Independent expert
Member of the panel “FOOD SAFETY PANEL –PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF BSE/TSE AND OF OTHER BIOLOGICAL HAZARDS” for the European Parliament (2006-2007)
Member of the pool of scientific advisors on risk assessment for DG SANCO (assignment Feb 2009 - )
Member of the Advisory Forum of EFSA (May 2010 -July 2011)
Member of the ERWG of EFSA since May 2012 – Dec 2015
Chairman of the Task Force for food safety in National Committee (2014-
Expert/Evaluator/reviewer
Member of the Group of Experts in Milk and Dairy Products of EEC (period 1/1986‑12/1988)
Numerous evaluations as Independent evaluator of (i) EU for the evaluation of STD3 research projects (10-14/01/94) (ii) NATO research Grants (iii) of EU e.g. FAIR, AAIR, QoL, PECO Marie Curie,
Invited referee for the Evaluation of candidateship of University members, for higher positions (e.g. from Reader to Full professorship) across EU (Ireland, Belgium) or America (West Indies)
External Examiner at Cranfield University for the MSc course Food Chain (2010-2012)
4- Invited Presentations
He has been invited in many National and International different Conferences/workshops
Nychas G-J (2007) Meat spoilage; Colorado State University, Forth Collins, Colorado, USA
Nychas G-J (2009) Definition and Identification of emerging risks – In One day Conference ‘Food Safety in Europe: Cooperation between EFSA and the Member States” EFSA 16 June 2009
G-J Nychas (2011), Biofilm disinfections in food processing; COST Exploratory Workshop; Biofilms: Friend or Foe? 22 to 23 June 2011, Berlin, Germany
G-J Nychas (2012) Microbial metabolomics in the services of quantitative food Microbiology; Metabomeeting Forum, Manchester UK, 25-28 Sept 2012
Nychas G-J. (2013) Role of Microbial Interactions in Formation and Elimination of Biofilms Formed by Foodborne Bacteria. 15-17 MAY 2013, Marseille France Organized by the INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR FOOD PROTECTION (IAFP)
Nychas, G-J. (2013) Evaluation meat spoilage using FTIR and Multispectral analysis In Microbial Spoilers in Food – 1st to 4th of July 2013,Quimper, France (http://www.spoilers2013.com/)
5- Research expeditions
The Laboratory of Microbiology and Biotechnology of Foods has led expeditions in the following fields
Predictive modelling in Foods; the academic stuff of this laboratory have participated in all but one, International Conferences on this field. However the last 3 International conferences have been either Organized by AUA (5th International Conferences) or have been actively participated in the organizing the 6th as well as the 7th Conferences
The contribution of laboratory in the potential use of metabolomics in the food sector; this is approach has been appreciated and the LMBF was coordinating a project that was dealing with this approach http://elvis.misc.cranfield.ac.uk/sorf
The implementation of Process Analytical Technology (PAT) in the Food Industry; The introduction of non-invasive approach to enhance food safety and quality
6- Organization of International conferences – SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEES
Member of the scientific advisory board of the 2nd Balkan Conf. of Microbiology, Thessaloniki, November 22-24, 2001
Member of the Organizing Committee of the 6th International Conference on Predictive Modelling in Foods Washington DC 2009 Sept 9-12; http://www.icpmf.org/
7- International recognition/Awards
· 2014- Listed among the 1% of Scientists who have published {Uninterrupted Continuous Presence (UCP)} at least one article in each and every year in a 16-year period (1996-2011) PLoS July 2014 V9, e101698
· 2016- Listed among the Most Cited Scientists from Greece [http://food-science.agro.auth.gr/GR/iframe/Most%20cited%20Greek%20scientists%202.pdf]
· 2016 - Member of the National Agricultural Academy http://www.haa.aua.gr/en/members.aspx?t=1
· 2017 - International Leadership Award (International Association for Food Protection - IAFP) -USA
· 2018 - Listed among the Highly Cited Researchers (0.1%) (Source: Clarivate Analytics) https://hcr.clarivate.com/?utm_campaign=EM_Highly_Cited_Researchers_Product_SAR_Global_2018_Email_1&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua#freeText%3Dnychas)
· 2019 – Listed among the 1% of highly cited researchers [Uninterrupted Continuous Presence (UCP)} at least 5 articles in each and every year in a 22-year period (1996-2018) PLoS Biol17(8): e3000384]
· 2019 – Awarded the Degree of DOCTOR of SCIENCE [DSc] from University of Bath, UK
Chairman of the Professional Development Group (PDG) of Predictive Modelling; 2008-2010
Member of the panel “Food Safety Panel –Prevention & Control of BSE/TSE & of other Biological Hazards” for the European Parliament (2006-2007)
Member of the pool of scientific advisors on risk assessment for DG SANCO (assignment Feb 2009)
Member of the Advisory Forum of EFSA (since May 2010) and ERWG of EFSA, since May 2012
Chairman of Scientific Working Group in FOOD SAEFTY of European Technological Platform (Nov 2105 – now)
8. Member of Editorial Board (Scientific Journals of SCI)
Journal of Food Protection” since 2000
Journal of Applied Microbiology” and “Letters in Applied Microbiology” since Oct 2005
Food Microbiology” since Jan 2010
Frontiers in Food Microbiology” and ‘Frontiers in Bacterial Physiology’
Journal of Food Bioscience”
PLoS ONE since Oct 2104
International Journal of Food Microbiology
9. Administrative Experience
Director of the Department of International Relations & Informatics of the National Agricultural Research Foundation, (NAgReF) [March 91-March 93].
Head Research Scientist (4/1992 - 3/1994), Institute of Technology of Agricultural Products, of NAgReF
General Director (3/94-10/94) of NAgReF.
Head of Laboratory of Microbiology & Biotechnology of Foods, Agric. Univ. of Athens since 1994
Vice-president of the Dept of Food Science & Technology (1997-2001)
President of the Executive Board of the Hellenic Food Authority (EFET) (9th /3/ 2010 – 8/8/2011)
