Professor Katarzyna Śliżewska is a graduate of the Faculty of Food Chemistry and Biotechnology, currently the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Science of TUL. After graduation she took up a job at the Institute of Fermentation Technology and Microbiology in the Department of Technical Microbiology, where she works to date. In 2002, she obtained a doctoral degree in chemical technology and in 2015 she obtained a postdoctoral degree in technical sciences, discipline - biotechnology.
Professor Sliżewska's main research and research interests are lactic acid bacteria, probiotics of human and animal origin, prebiotics and synbiotics. Her major scientific achievements include selection of probiotic strains according to FAO/WHO and EFSA guidelines, characterisation of prebiotic substances and health-promoting preparations (probiotic, prebiotic and synbiotic) and evaluation of their efficacy in clinical trials (human, experimental and farm animal). She also conducts research into the detoxification of harmful substances. Her most important application achievements include the introduction of a probiotic preparation for humans LATOPIC and for animals LAVIPAN.
Professor Śliżewska's scientific output includes 8 monographs, 22 chapters in monographs, 101 publications, 21 patents, 200 papers and conference reports and participation in 16 projects, as well as numerous expert opinions and reviews,
performed for research funding institutions, universities and enterprises. Her work has been cited over 1,500 times and her Hirsch index value is 17.
She has held several Polish and foreign internships, both scientific and industrial. She has repeatedly participated in the organising and scientific committees of national and international conferences.
Professor Katarzyna Sliżewska is a member of many organisations: Polish Society of Microbiologists, the Section of Microbiology and Food Biotechnology of the Committee on Food Science and Nutrition of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and the Polish Society of Food Technologists. She has received numerous awards for her achievements in scientific and organisational work. She has won 5 gold and 1 silver medal at international invention exhibitions.
Professor Joanna Leszczyńska is also a graduate of the Faculty of Food Chemistry (now Biotechnology and Food Science) at TUL. After graduation in 1979, she started working as an assistant at the Institute of Fundamentals of Food Chemistry (currently Institute of Natural Products and Cosmetics) and continues to work there today.
Since 2013, Professor Leszczynska has been the head of the Bromatology Team. From 2012 to 2018 she was president of the Lodz Branch of the Polish Society of Food Technologists. Among other activities, the Polish Society of Food Technologists was the main organiser of a series of international conferences Biologically Active Compounds in Food, organised in Lodz in 2015, 2017 and 2019.
Initially involved in food analytics, her research interests then focused on the application of immunoenzymatic methods in food analysis. Currently, the most important area of her interest, apart from modern methods of food analysis, are food allergens, especially of plant origin, other bioactive compounds and their interactions. She conducts research on changes in immunoreactivity of ingredients subjected to technological processes and the influence of environmental conditions on food allergenicity. She also deals with functional foods and human nutrition.
Professor Leszczynska has a close scientific collaboration on food allergens with, among others, scientists from the Cyprus University of Technology, Department of Agricultural Sciences, Biotechnolgy and Food Sciences and the Food AllergensLab allergen analysis laboratory.
She has authored and co-authored 80 publications, most of them from the JCR list. Her scientific output includes 91 conference papers. She also co-authored 3 chapters in monographs. She has promoted 8 doctoral candidates. She has received numerous awards for her organisational, teaching and scientific activities.