Full Professor and Chemist, Chancellor Fellow, Food Science and Technology Department, University of California Davis
Daniela Barile
Originally from Italy, Daniela joined the Faculty of the Food Science Department at the University of California Davis in October 2011. Daniela’s lab researches the chemical and biological properties of food components, with a focus on small molecules, to generate novel ingredients that ameliorate human health. She was promoted to Full Professor in 2018 and recently received the Chancellor’s Fellow Award and the Innovator of the Year Award 2020, given to outstanding faculty members producing groundbreaking research and scholarship early in their careers.
The Barile Lab has established a high-throughput platform for studying prebiotics, peptides and proteins, which includes: a MALDI TOF (Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/ionization Time of Flight) mass spectrometer, a Nanoliquid chip-based Quadrupole Time of Flight Mass Spectrometer, a Triple Quadrupole LC-MS system and two High Performance Anion Exchange Chromatography with Pulsed Amperometric Detection (HPAEC-PAD). Daniela expands her analytical work through a series of collaborative studies in animal models and in vitro, documenting selective stimulation of protective bacteria and investigating the interaction with pathogenic species. Daniela is PI or co-PI on several USDA and NIH-funded grants on prebiotics/probiotics as well as several international collaborations. She has also worked with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to explore interventions that more effectively promote healthy growth of children with undernutrition.
The highly collaborative aspect of her research is evidenced by the publication of over 120 research manuscripts in leading peer-reviewed food science and nutrition journals.
Daniela is also a co-founder of Evolve Biosystems, a startup dedicated to developing the next generation of products to restore a healthy gut microbiome in newborns.