CV Resume
Dr. Ioannis Giavasis
Address: 25th Martiou street 34, 43100 Karditsa, Greece
E-mail: igiavasis@teilar.gr
Tel.: 0030-2441041082 (office), 0030-6977455433 (mobile)
Fax : 0030-2441041080
Dr. Ioannis Giavasis currently holds a permanent position as an Assistant Professor of Food
Microbiology and Microbial Fermentations after a 6,5-year tenure as a Lecturer in Food
Microbiology at the Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Thessaly (formerly TEI of
Larisa), Greece, Department of Food Technology. He was responsible for the establishment and
the organisation of the newly founded lab of Food Microbiology and Biotechnology in his
Department since 2008.
He has also worked as a visiting lecturer at (a) MAICH (Mediterranean Agronomical Institute of
Chania, Crete, Greece), where he teached “Food Microbiology” (in English) at MSc level in the
international MSc Programme “Food Quality Management & Chemistry of Natural Products”,
(b) Democritus University, Dept. of Molecular Biology and Genetics teaching “Biochemistry”,
and (c) the Technological Educational Institute of Western Greece, Dept. of Quality and
Marketing of Agricultural Products teaching “Food Microbiology, Food Hygiene, and
Technology and Quality of Dairy Products”. Apart from academia, Dr. Giavasis has worked in
the food industry (Alpine Dairy Institute-Austria, Pelecan Canning Industry-Greece, PedigreeMasterfoods-UK) as a food scientist/microbiologist or fermentation expert for the R&D
departments of the above companies.
With regard to his academic profile, being a graduate of the Department of Food Science at the
School of Agriculture of Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece, he later obtained his Ph.D.
in Food Biotechnology and Applied Microbiology (“Physiological studies on the production of
gellan gum by Sphingomonas paucimobilis”) at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK,
(partly funded by a University Scholarship and an industrial sponsorship by Masterfoods UK),
followed up by two industrial-post-doc positions, both covered by a confidentiality agreement
which prohibited publication of sensitive material, one with Masterfoods Co., UK and
Strathclyde University, which led to the publication and application of a patent for the use of
crude microbial biopolymers as thickening/gelling agents in food, and one with Pelekan Food
Company, Greece, working at the microbial safety and extension of shelf life of low-processed
ready to eat foods and meals.
His research activity and interests cover the areas of food and industrial microbiology and
biotechnology, i.e. food safety and spoilage, food preservation with novel/mild methods
(application of bacteriocins, plant extracts, essential oils, phages and predator bacteria, etc), and
production of low-processed foods, survival of food pathogens under different conditions and
environments, probiotic bacteria and starter cultures, as well as microbial fermentations for the
production of food grade proteins, polysaccharides (gellan, xanthan, etc), organic acids (lactate,
2
acetate), bacteriocins (nisin, curvacin, etc), study and study of the microbial physiology, and
process control and optimisation. He has completed or is currently participating in 25 research
programmes in 7 of which as a Scientific Co-ordinator (either short-term industrial contracts or
larger research programmes with multiple participants from academia and industry) with a total
budget of approximately 750.000 euros. The last years, he has completed the supervision of two
MSc Thesis in the field of Food Microbiology and approximately 40 research and 30
bibliographic undergraduate Thesis, in the fields of Food Microbiology and Biotechnology. He
is currently a supervisor of a Ph.D. Thesis on the utilization of antimicrobial and bioactive
compounds from pomegranate peels.
With regard to his publication record, Dr. Giavasis has published 10 papers in peer-review journals
or international conference proceedings (plus another 3 papers submitted for publication) and 5
book chapters in international book editions with a total of 196 references so far. He is a co-editor in
the international book edition “Microbial Production of food Ingredients, Enzymes and
Nutraceuticals” (by Woodhead Publishing). He has also edited and translated into Greek the book
“Food Microbiology-An Introduction”, Thomas Montville and Karl Matthews, ASM Press, and he
is an invited reviewer for the journals “Food Science and Technology International”, “Journal of
Food Science and Engineering” and “Bioactive Carbohydrates and Dietary Fibre”.
Dr. Giavasis also holds two patents on the applications of polyphenols from olive mill waste as
novel antioxidants, antimicrobials, or stimulants of growth and acid production by lactic acid
bacteria in fermented dairy and meat products. He has made 43 presentations (oral/poster) in
international (mostly) or national conferences. In 2013 he and his team of undergraduate students
were awarded the 3rd price of Innovation at the Ecotrophelia 2013 competition (part of a
European competition for Food Eco-Innovation), for developing a nitrite-free fermented sausage,
without any chemical additives, with addition of olive polyphenols from olive mill waste as
novel antimicrobial, antioxidant and bioactive substances.