Instituto de Agroquímica y Tecnología de los Alimentos-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IATA-CSIC). Valencia

Prof. María Carmen Collado is an Agricultural Engineer (2000), a BsC in Food Science & Technology (2002) and
a PhD in Biotechnology (2005) from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV). After her PhD, she undertook
postdoctoral training at the Functional Food Forum (University of Turku, Finland), where she contributed to clinical
trials on probiotics, microbiota and breastfeeding (2005-2007). She further developed her expertise at the
Complutense University of Madrid (2007) before joining the IATA-CSIC in Valencia (2008), where she is now a full
professor and heads the MAINBiotics Lab - a dynamic team (15 members) advancing research on microbiota and
health. Her interests are focused on microbiology, food science, nutrition, and human health, particularly during
pregnancy and early life. Prof. Collado’s pioneering work is multidisciplinary and includes microbiology, food
science and nutrition areas, she explores how diet and biotics modulate microbiota to influence lifelong health, with
a strong focus on maternal, infant, and women's health across the lifespan. As the leader of the MAMI Birth Cohort
(ERC-2014-StG–639226), she has provided groundbreaking insights into maternal microbial transfer, impacto f diet
and breastfeeding, and the bioactives of human milk—including immunoglobulins, immune markers,
oligosaccharides, and metabolites—and their impact on infant immunity, metabolism, and long-term health. Her
research has driven personalized nutrition strategies to optimize maternal-infant microbiota transfer, influencing
public health policies and dietary guidelines worldwide.
With over 300 high-impact publications in top journals such as Nature, Science Advances, Cell Host & Microbe and
Microbiome, >21,000 citations, and an h-index of 70, she is ranked among the top 2% most-cited researchers
globally in biomedical sciences (Microbiology) (Stanford/Elsevier 2024). She has co-authored 26 book chapters,
delivered keynote talks at 100+ major conferences, and led multiple national and European research projects
(Horizon Europe, EIT-FOOD, PRIMA). She plays key roles in scientific advisory boards (ANEP, EU), expert working
groups (ISAPP, ILSI) and leading societies (ISRHML, SEMiPyP). Her contributions have been recognized with
prestigious awards such as the ESPGHAN Young Researcher Award, the Danone Young Researcher Award, and
the Jesús Serra Clinical Nutrition Research Award. Due her leadership on the field, she has chaired major
international conferences (FASEB, Keystone, IHMC, ISRHML, EFFoST) and is a board member of the Microbiome
Virtual Forum. Beyond research, she is also committed to science outreach and women’s health advocacy. She
was involved in “Las Científicas Cuentan”, promoting women in science, and leads “MANUELA initiative”, a citizenscience
project on diet, lifestyle, and microbiota’s impact on women’s health in Spain, engaging over 12,000
participants. Her visionary leadership, groundbreaking research, and commitment to translational science continue
to shape the future of microbiota research and its applications to human health.