Dr. Ioannis Zabetakis

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).