Alejandro G. Marangoni, Ph.D., FRSC, FRSC (U.K.), FAOCS, FIFT

Dr. Marangoni is a professor and Tier I Canada Research Chair Food, Health and Aging at the University of Guelph, a Fellow of Royal Society of Canada, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK), a Fellow of the American Oil Chemists Society, a Fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists (U.S.) and a member of the American Physical Society. His work concentrates on the relationship between the physical and nutritional properties of foods, particularly fats and oils. Dr. Marangoni is widely recognized as the leading Lipid Materials Scientist in the world, having published over 400 refereed research articles, 82 book chapters, 18 books, and over 40 patents. He has been invited to deliver over 130 plenary and keynote lectures throughout the world, while also co-authoring over 400 regular talks with his students and colleagues at scientific conferences. His contributions include the development and implementation of the fractal structural-mechanical theory of van der Waals colloidal aggregates, the discovery, characterization and manipulation of the nanoscale structure of triglyceride crystal networks, the establishment of the field of edible oil organogelation, and the modification of triglyceride physical structure for the modulation of physiological response in humans. Marangoni’s group is also actively involved with the development and implementation of theory and apps for the prediction of the phase behavior of triglyceride mixtures from molecular composition. Marangoni also developed a structured emulsion to replace high saturate/high trans edible fats in food production and serve as a vehicle for the delivery of nutraceutical compounds. This technology formed the basis of a Canadian high-tech startup, Coasun Inc, which was subsequently adopted by a large multinational corporation, that sells the product commercially throughout the world. Dr. Marangoni has created the only viable technology, thus far, for the manufacture of fats with very low levels of saturated fats and no trans fats. Moreover, his latest work on physical structuring of oil using oleogelation will allow for the manufacture of hard edible fats from oil without addition of saturated or trans fats, as well as the modulation of serum triglyceride levels in humans. More recent endeavors include the design of food particle-filled polymer networks such as comminuted meat products and processed cheese. Creating a powder composite has allowed the replacement of saturated fat in the particular food product, while maintaining expected thermal behavior, such as apparent melting. Dr. Marangoni’s H-index of 71 and i10-index of 326 includes over 18,500 citations of his work, with over 1967 citations in 2018 only.

He is the recipient of many awards including a 1999 Ontario Premier’s Research Excellence Award, the first Young Scientist Award from the American Oil Chemists’ Society (2000), a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Food and Soft Materials Science (2001-2011), two Distinguished Researcher Awards from the Ontario Innovation Trust (2002), a Career Award from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (2002), an E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship (2002) – given to the top 6 Canadian scientists from all disciplines - and the T.L. Mounts Award from AOCS in 2004. Dr. Marangoni is the co-editor in Chief of the Current Opinion in Food Science (Elsevier, The Netherlands), the EIC of the new journal Current Research in Food Science (Elsevier), EIC of the Lipid Library of the AOCS, and EIC of the book series Food Chemistry, Function and Analysis (Royal Society of Chemistry, UK). He is on the editorial advisory board of Food Biophysics (Springer) and Food and Function (Royal Society of Chemistry), and on the editorial board of Food Research International (Elsevier), Food Digestion (Springer) and CYTA-Journal of Food (Taylor and Francis). He was Editor-in-Chief of Food Research International for 15 years (1998-2012), raising its impact factor from 0.69 to 3.15. Dr. Marangoni has co-founded several high-technology companies and is the co-recipient of the 2008 Guelph Partners of Innovation “Innovator of the year” award for his discovery of a platform technology for the manufacture of structured oil-in-water emulsions to replace high-saturate, high-trans and palm-based edible fats. His recent discovery and patents on polymer gelation of oil, heat resistant chocolate and petrolatum replacement, have attracted enormous attention world-wide. His current efforts are focused on biolubricants including suspension oil, and anti-ageing creams. Dr. Marangoni’s second high-tech startup with his son, Isaac Marangoni, Whistler Performance Lubricants Inc. (www.wplbike.com) has world-wide sales and is poised to become a world leader in green, biobased biolubricants and grease. The motivation of this work is to curb environmental pollution caused by petroleum-based lubricants without loss of performance. All materials are Canadian-produced oleochemicals. Dr. Marangoni is past Research Program Director for the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and NSERC’s Plant Biology and Food Science Grant Selection Committee. Dr. Marangoni has trained over 100 people in his laboratory. Graduates occupy positions of importance in the academe and industry, including 13 professors at major universities.

Dr. Marangoni is the recipient of the 2013 American Oil Chemists Society Stephen S. Chang award, the 2014 Institute of Food Technologists Stephen S. Chang Award in Lipid Science, the American Oil Chemists Society 2014 Supelco/Nicholas Pelick Award, the 2015 Kaufmann Medal of the International Society for Fat Research and the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Fettenwissenschaft, the 2017 Bailey Award of the American Oil Chemists Society and the 2019 European Lipid Technology Award from the European Federation for the Science and Technology of Lipids. Marangoni was honored as one of the 10 most influential Hispanic Canadians in 2012 by the Hispanic Business Alliance and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2018, the Canadian National Academy of Sciences.