Professor Andrea Liceaga has a MSc in food microbiology and a PhD in food chemistry from The University of British Columbia. In 2009, she became a faculty member in the Food Science Department at Purdue University where she oversees the Protein Chemistry and Bioactive Peptides Laboratory and is the Director of the Sensory Evaluation Laboratory. At ISF, she is the lead of the Amazon Sustainability (ASEG) exploratory research group.
Andrea Liceaga
Professor, Department of Food Science, College of Agriculture and Lead of Amazon Sustainability Group
Education
Ph.D. (Food Chemistry), M.Sc. (Food Microbiology), The University of British Columbia, Canada; B.Sc. (Biochemical Engineering and Food Processing Management), Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), Mexico.
Research Interests
Dr. Liceaga has established her research efforts at fomenting the study of emerging, sustainable protein sources to advance food security and human health (i.e., “Foods for Health”). Dr. Liceaga studies these emerging protein sources and the effect of bioactive peptides towards factors associated with chronic disease (e.g., hypertension, type-2 diabetes, obesity, inflammation). Applications of these proteins and peptides for food formulations, nutraceutical and cosmeceutical applications; entomophagy and insect protein applications; development of value-added products from under-utilized resources products to develop value-added materials such as emulsifiers and biopolymer films for food packaging. Her Lab also evaluates protein allergenicity, and sensory evaluation/consumer attitudes towards these emerging proteins.
Research Impact
Dr. Liceaga’s research on biological active peptides from traditional and emerging protein sources has generated new knowledge on the development, characterization, and mode of inhibition, including bioactive composition, anti-ageing effect, the mechanisms by which these compounds prevent/delay oxidative stress conditions, as well as other bioactivities such as anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activities. Dr. Liceaga has published >80 refereed papers, 5 book chapters, and 3 intellectual property applications. Her h index is 44 and her i10-index is 73 with 6789 citations. Dr. Liceaga was recognized by Purdue’s College of Agriculture (CoA) among the top-10 CoA faculty with the greatest increases in citations and H factors for 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025.