Personale docente

Stefano Sforza was born in Parma (Italy) in 1969. In 1993 he obtained the Master Degree in Chemistry (cum laude) at the University of Parma, where he became Ph.D. student in 1994. He carried out part of his doctorate studies at the University of Copenhagen. In 1998 he obtained the Ph.D. in Chemical Sciences presenting a dissertation on the synthesis and the chracterization of chiral Peptide Nucleic Acids (PNAs). From 1998 to 2000 he was post-doc at the Department of Organic and Industrial Chemistry at the University of Parma, where in 2001 he became Research Associate for the Faculty of Sciences. In 2005 he was appointed Associate Professor of Organic Chemistry at the Faculty of Agriculture in the same University. After University of Parma reorganization, he became part of the Department of Food Science. In December 2015 he has been nominated Full Professor of Organic Chemistry at the Department of Food Science of the University of Parma. Following Departmental re-organization, he is today Full Professor of Organic Chemistry in the Department of Food and Drug at the University of Parma and Delegate of the Rector for European and International Research He is representing University of Parma in the International Platform of Insects as Food and Feed (IPIFF) He is Disciplinary Expert for the Italian Agency for Evaluation of University and Research (ANVUR) for the Area of Chemistry. From 2012 till 2015 he has been the elected Representative of the Associate Professors in the Academic Senate of the University of Parma. From 2012till 2017 he is also Visiting Professor at the Wageningen University and Research Centre in Wageningen, The Netherland. The teaching Activity of Stefano Sforza concerns the Degree of Food Sciences and Technologies, where he lectures "Organic Chemistry" and the degree of Gastronomical Science, where he lectures “Chemistry” He tutored about 100 Bachelor and Master Theses in Food Science and Technology, Chemical Sciences, Biotechnology, 10 Ph.D. Thesis in Food Science and Technology and 1 Ph.D. Thesis in Chemistry, plus co-tutored 2 PhD Thesis at the Wageningen University. He is member of the Tutor Committee for the Doctorate in Food Science. The scientific activity concerns the field of Organic Chemistry applied to complex biological systems, including food. At the moment he studies the molecular and functional properties of peptides and proteins in complex food matrices , the chemical and biological properties of food allergens, the enzymatic digestion of proteins, the molecular and functional characterization of oligo- and polysaccharides, and the characterization and valorization of byproducts and waste from food industry. In the EU 7th framework he has been from 2007 till 2011 Scientific Manager and WP leader of the project PROSPARE (Progress in saving proteins and recovery of energy). In 2010 Stefano Sforza received from the Ajinomoto company a grant in the framework of the "Ajinomoto Amino Acids Research Program" in order to investigate on the origin of non proteolytic aminoacyl derivatives in cheeses. In this project Stefano Sforza is Principal Investigator ("Identification of microorganisms and condition for optimal bioproduction of gamm-glutamyl aminoa cids as new flavouring agents"). He has been in 2011-2012 Scientific Responsible for the project "Tomato allergy: clinical and molecular aspects" financed by Fondazione Cariparma. He has been Group Leader and WP leader for the EU project NOSHAN (Sustainable production of functional feed from food waste, FP7, 2012-2016). He has been Group Leader in the project “Developing innovative methods for detecting emerging food allergens and evaluation of their impact on consumer health: an integrated approach (INTEGRALL)” (Ministry of Health, 2012-2015) He has been Project Coordinator for the project "Identification of wheat varieties having low impact on subjects genetically predisposed to celiac disease for the development of food products able to prevent its onset (Emilia Romagna European Funding for Regional Development, 2016-2018) He was group leader e WP leader in the euroepan project "Direct and indirect biorefinery technologies for conversion of organic side-streams into multiple marketable products (Indirect)" (EU H2020, 2016-2019). Moreover he has been member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the European Project "Integrated Approaches to Food Allergen and Allergy Management (iFAAM)” (EU FP7, 2013-2017) . He now participates to the EU project Integrated cascades of PROcesses for the extraction and valorisation of proteins and bioactivemolecules from Legumes, Fungi and Coffee agro-industrial side streams (PROLIFIC). Scientific Responsible for research contracts signed with Parmalat, Chiesi Farmaceutici, Consorzio del Parmigiano Reggiano, CNR, Barilla. He is author of about 170 pubblications on international peer-reviewed journals listed on the ISI data bank (with impact factor), 11 pubblications on non-ISI journals (without impact factor), 22 chapters on books and edited the book "Food Authentication through Bioorganic Molecules" edited by DesTech (USA). His h-index is currently 43 (Google Scholar, January 2020). Member of the Editorial Board of the journal Food Research International. He is co-inventor in national and international patents on the use of PNAs for the treatment of neuroblastoma. He is also author many oral and poster communications in national and international conferences. He received the "Best Poster Award" in EuroFoodChem X (Budapest, 1999) and EuroFoodChem XIV (Paris, 2007) He has been invited speaker at the following conferences: - 5th International Symposium on Nucleic Acids Chemistry in Tokyo, Japan (2007) - 2nd Euchems Chemistry Congress in Torino (2008) - 5th Interdisciplinary Symposium on Biological Chirality in Brescia (2009) - 239th Symposium of the American Chemical Society in San Francisco, USA (2010) - International Conference on Industrial Biotechnology in Patiala (India, 2012) - VLAG course on Industrial Food Proteins in Wageningen (Netherlands, 2013) - National Conference in Food Chemistry (Cagliari, 2016) He is member of the Italian Chemical Society and the Division of Agrifood Chemistry of the American Chemical Society.