Biography

Yannis (Ioannis) Zabetakis has studied for his BSc in Chemistry in the Univ. of Athens and then he spent 8 years in UK where he studied for a PhD in Food Science in the Univ. of Leeds, did postdoctoral research on alkaloids in the Univ. of Durham and worked as a Lecturer in Food Chemistry in the Univ. of Leeds.During his lectureship in Leeds (1998-2001), he also studied for a M.Ed. in Food Chemistry.

From 2003 to 2015, he had been working in the laboratory of Food Chemistry in the Univ. of Athens (2003-2008 as a Lecturer of Food Chemistry, 2008-2015 as an Assistant Professor of Food Chemistry and Associate Professor of Food Chemistry).He joined the University of Limerick (UL) in 2015 as Lecturer on Food Lipids and in 2020 he was promoted to Senior Lecturer. Since September 2018, he is the Head of the Department of Biological Sciences in UL.
He is also involved in consulting and auditing (as a Lead Auditor) food industries.As a hobby, he likes to write articles on food safety in specialised food sector magazines and newspapers.

(more info at https://izab.net/ )




Research Interests

The research focus of my group is in three interrelated areas:

1.Polar lipids and human health
2.Food security
3.Emerging hazards in water and food and how they are linked to inflammation

In the 1st area, we are interested in isolating and identifying functional polar lipids of food origin that have strong anti-inflammatory activities, i.e. the potential to stop the onset of inflammation and thus the development of CardioVascular Diseases (CVDs). These lipids can be further exploited in various ways, ranging from developing novel health claims (according to EFSA EU guidelines) for foods till producing novel neutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals. (Lordan and Zabetakis 2017; Megalemou et al. 2017; Sioriki et al. 2016)

In the 2nd area, we work with Fish feeds and animal feeds.
For fish feeds, we study ways how to increase food security by decreasing our dependency on fish oil (FO). The sustainability of FO is a threat for aquaculture and there is a worldwide search for alternative sources of lipids that can used in fish feeds.

For animal feeds, we evaluate different ways of how to exploit by products of olive industry, brewing and distilling processes and use these by-products to enrich fish feeds. Our ultimate scope is to develop sustainable manufacturing processes of novel animal and fish feeds and also final products (fish; pig; chicken etc) with improved cardioprotective properties. (Nasopoulou et al. 2014) (Nasopoulou et al 2018 / Patents)

In the 3rd area, the interest is in studying the effect of anthropogenic pollution on food chain and how these pollutants (focusing to Cr and Ni) can be uptaken by food tubers. We are now investigating the role of these heavy metals in (promoting) inflammation and thus their link to the onset of a plethora of inflammation-triggered diseases. (Stasinos et al. 2014; Stoikou et al. 2017).







Professional Activities

Patent

  • 2014 WO2014122571 (A1) ― 2014-08-14 - PRODUCTION METHOD OF FISH FEED ENRICHED WITH POLAR LIPIDS AND METHOD TO ENRICH FARMED FISHES

Language

  • Greek
  • English
  • French

Research Collaborators

  • Ian Megson - Joint Publication - University of the Highlands and the Islands -Scotland
  • Leonidas Papaharisis - Patent - Nireus Aquaculture SA -Greece
  • Terry Smith - Joint Publication - University of St Andrews -Scotland

Publications

Peer Reviewed Journals

2021

Antithrombotic and antiplatelet activity of an organometallic rhodium(I) complex incorporating a substituted thieno-[2,3-d]-pyrimidine ligand: Synthesis, structural characterization, and molecular docking calculations

Kalampalidis, A;Peppas, A;Schnakenburg, G;Papakyriakou, A;Tsoupras, A;Zabetakis, I;Philippopoulos, AI (2021) Antithrombotic and antiplatelet activity of an organometallic rhodium(I) complex incorporating a substituted thieno-[2,3-d]-pyrimidine ligand: Synthesis, structural characterization, and molecular docking calculations. HOBOKEN Applied Organometallic Chemistry

Books

Book Chapters

2019

Statins: Rationale, mode of action, and side effects

Sultan S.;D’Souza A.;Zabetakis I.;Lordan R.;Tsoupras A.;Kavanagh E.P.;Hynes N. (2019) Statins: Rationale, mode of action, and side effects. The Impact of Nutrition and Statins on Cardiovascular Diseases :171-200

2019

Inflammation

Lordan R.;Tsoupras A.;Zabetakis I. (2019) Inflammation. The Impact of Nutrition and Statins on Cardiovascular Diseases :23-51

Edited Books

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Other Journals

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Conference Publications

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Conference Contributions

Published Reports

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Editorials

Book Reviews

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Other Publications