Education
B.S., Federal University of Lavras, Brazil, Food Engineering, 2014.
M.S., Federal University of Lavras, Brazil, Food Science, 2016.
Ph.D. student, Texas A&M University, Food Science and Technology.
Biography
Ariela Thomas is from Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil. She received her Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in Food Engineering from Federal University of Lavras, Brazil. As an undergraduate, she was granted two Undergraduate Researcher scholarships and worked with isolation and selection of tannase-producing filamentous fungi and later with Postharvest Technology, investigating different packaging materials to enhance postharvest quality of apples. Her undergraduate research work resulted in an undergraduate thesis. She also got her master’s degree in the area of postharvest technology, developing enriched edible coatings to maintain quality and nutritional value of strawberries.
Research
Her Ph.D. research interest is on bioactive plant compounds, their extraction and stability, as well as their anti-inflammatory efficacy against acute and chronic inflammation. The focus of her investigation is in the development of different combinations of polyphenols and other bioactive compounds capable of mitigating inflammatory states, using a combination of in vitro and in vivo models to elucidate the potential synergistic interactions among compounds and the best formulation to improve the bioavailability of developed formulations.