A+ Level Researcher (Full  Professor)

Head of Agro-nanotechnology and Advanced Materials  Center

Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Institute

Department of Food Sciences

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Elena Poverenov earned her B.Sc. (summa cum laude) in Medicinal Chemistry from Bar Ilan University in 2001. Her MS. work in organic chemistry focused on the synthesis and reactivity of complexes based on PCN-type ligands, supervised under Prof. David Milstein from the Weizmann Institute. After graduating in 2004, Elena continued to PhD degree, where her dissertation was titled "Reactive Species Stabilized by Complexation to Pt- group Metals", also in Prof. Milstein's lab. After completing her PhD in 2009, she was awarded the Clore Foundation's Post-Doctoral Fellowship and joined Prof. Michael Bendikov's group at the Weizmann Institute, where she worked on conductive polymers.

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Elena joined the Agricultural Research Organization (ARO) at the Volcani Institute as a principal investigator at the Department of Food Science in 2011.

In the Volcani Institute, Elena's research focuses on the development of advanced systems for the rational delivery of active agents in food and agriculture, smart responsive nanostructures based on natural polymers, active edible coatings for the enhancement of storability and quality in agricultural products, active and Intelligent packages, and the development of safe "contact active" surfaces for the prevention of food cross-contamination.

Her research lab developed several new concepts that made a high general impact on the material and agricultural sciences worldwide. Currently, She has published more than 80 research articles in leading international journals among them the top scientific journals in my research fields and multidisciplinary journals (ACS Nano, Green Chemistry, ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, Food Chemistry, Food Hydrocolloids, Carbohydrate Polymers). Elena has contributed several invited reviews and book chapters.

 

For outstanding research, Elena received Agropolis and Olam International Prize (2017), AgroMashov Award (2019), Yigal Alon Prize for Community Impact in the Field of Agriculture (2020), Researcher of the Year prize in ARO (2022), etc.