Dear Colleagues,

David Julian McClements is a Distinguished Professor at the Department of Food Science at the University of Massachusetts. He specializes in the areas of (i) Food Biopolymers and Colloids, and in particular on the development of food-based structured delivery systems for bioactive components and (ii) Food Nanotechnology. More specifically, Prof. McClements’ work includes but is not limited to:

• Developing structural design approaches to create innovative colloidal delivery systems to encapsulate, protect, and deliver bioactive agents, such as vitamins, minerals, and nutraceuticals;
• Developing soft matter physics approaches to increase the quality and healthiness of food products, g., reduced calorie or slowly digestible foods;
• Creating high-quality plant-based alternatives to animal foods, such as meat, milk, and eggs. Replacing animal or synthetic food ingredients with plant-based alternatives;
• Understanding the molecular and physicochemical events occurring inside the gastrointestinal tract after ingestion of foods, so as to better control the gastrointestinal fate of foods;
• Establishing standardized methods to categorize the functional properties of food emulsifiers and emulsions, which will enable food manufacturers to select ingredients in a more systematic and informed manner.

Prof. McClements received his Ph.D. in Food Science (1989) at the University of Leeds (UK) in ultrasonic spectrometry. He then did his Post-Doctoral Research at the University of Leeds (1989–1992), University of California-Davis (1992–1994) and University College Cork-Ireland (1994). He was appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Food science, University of Massachusetts (UMASS), Amherst, where he was promoted to Full Professor in 2016, and to Distinguished Professor in 2019. Since 2016, he has also been a Visiting Professor at the Center for Nanotechnology and Nanotoxicology, T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA. and since 2019, an Adjunct Professor at the School of Food Science and Bioengineering, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.

Prof. McClements is the author of Future Foods: How Modern Science is Changing the Way We Eat (2019), three editions of Food Emulsions: Principles, Practice and Techniques (1999, 2005, 2015) and of Nanoparticle- and Microparticle-based Delivery Systems: Encapsulation, Protection and Release of Active Components (2014), co-author of Advances in Food Colloids (1996) with Prof. Eric Dickinson, and co-editor of Developments in Acoustics and Ultrasonics, Understanding and Controlling the Microstructure of Complex Foods, Designing Functional Foods, Oxidation in Foods and Beverages (Volumes 1 and 2), and Encapsulation and Delivery Systems for Food Ingredients and Nutraceuticals. In addition, he has published over 1000 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals (with an H-index of 115 on Scopus) more than 57,000 citations, 12 patents, as well as numerous book chapters and conference proceedings. 

Prof. McClements has previously received awards from the American Chemical Society, American Oil Chemists Society, Society of Chemical Industry (UK), Institute of Food Technologists, and University of Massachusetts in recognition of his scientific achievements. Dr. McClements is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, American Chemical Society (Agricultural and Food Division), and Institute of Food Technologists. His research has been funded by grants from the United States Department of Agriculture, National Science Foundation, US Department of Commerce, NASA, and the food industry. He has secured funding worth over $11.5 million as a PI or co-PI while working at UMASS. He is the co-editor of Annual Reviews in Food Science and Technology, and a member of the editorial boards of a number of other journals. He has organized numerous workshops, symposia, and international conferences in the field of food colloids, emulsions, and delivery systems.

Dr. Yangchao Luo
Prof. Dr. Michael G. Kontominas
Guest Editors

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