Department of Food Science

Mario Martinez started his independent research career as Tenure-Track Assistant Professor at the University of Guelph (ON, Canada) in August 2017, where he was awarded the College of Engineering and Physical Science (CEPS) Assistant Professor Research Excellence Award from CEPS and the Ontario Early Researcher Award (ERA) from the Government of Ontario. Mario Martinez joined Aarhus University in April 2020 as Tenure Track Assistant Professor, receiving shortly after the Young Scientist Research Award by the American Association of Cereal Chemists International (now Cereals & Grains Association) and becoming Associate Professor and Sapere Aude Research Leader at the Department of Food Science at Aarhus University.

His research program is on translational biopolymer science, approaching the structure and function of food biopolymers, their binding potential to plant secondary metabolites, the elucidation of their complex structural biochemistry, and their food structuring behaviour. Mario's team also works on understanding the fundamental aspects related to the structuring technologies of plant-based foods (e.g., using extrusion processing) as well as the establishment of green derivatization routes of polysaccharides into high-performing biomaterials. Mario is the recipient of the Nils Foss Talent Prize 2021 (Foss, Denmark), and was recently recognized as Sapere Aude Research Leader by Independent Research Fund Denmark. Mario is adjunct Associate Professor at the Whistler Center for Carbohydrate Research (Purdue University, IN, USA) and at the Department of Physics of the University of Guelph (ON, Canada). All in all, Mario´s team relies on coherent and focused food system approaches to find common ground for health and environmental sustainability.

The list of publications from Dr. Martinez until 2019 can be found in the following link. His publications from 2020 are listed in Research Outputs Section. 

Featured Academic Awards

• Sapere Aude Research Leader. Independent Research Fund - Danmarks Frie Forskningsfond. 2021.
• The Nils Foss Talent Prize. FOSS. 2021. 
• Ontario Early Researcher Award (ERA). Government of Ontario. 2021. (declined due to change of affiliation)
• Young Scientist Research Award. Cereals & Grains Association. 2020.
• CEPS Assistant Professor Research Excellence Award. College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Guelph, Canada. 2019. 

Editorial Activities

• Editorial Advisory Board member for ACS-Food Science & Technology