María Pérez-Jiménez. PhD in Food Science (Flavour Chemistry) in 2022 (UAM, Madrid); MSc in Novel Foods in 2015 (UAM, Madrid); BSc in Nutrition in 2014 (UCM, Madrid). During her doctoral studies, she did a research stay at Plant&Food Research in Auckland (New Zealand). Her PhD investigated the impact of oral processing on the behaviour of wine aroma compounds, and its possible consequences on aroma perception.

Her PhD Thesis was awarded by three different entities: in 2023 by Giract (Geneva, Switzerland) as the Best European Thesis in Flavour Research; in 2024 by CSIC (The Spanish National Research Council) as one of the Most Relevant Thesis from CSIC; and also in 2024 by the Municipality of Madrid (Spain) with the First Prize in the area of Applied Technology of the Margarita Salas Scientific and Technological Research Awards 2024.

Since April 2023 she is Postdoctoral Researcher in the Lab of Oral Biology and Salivary Proteomics at MED. Her  research interests are related to the salivary proteome and its influence on oral flavour perception and ultimately on food choices. She is also collaborated in projects investigating saliva biomarkers for the diagnosis/prevention of diseases. She is involved in international projects (HealthyW8, FLAVOURsome COST Action, MACAOs), and in studies with other labs from MED (Lab of Oenology).

Currently, her research is being funded by an ERA-Fellowship (Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions), call HORIZON-WIDERA-2023-TALENTS-02, and by a CEEC Junior contract, funded by FCT (6th Edition).