Salwa Karboune
Associate Dean (Research)
Associate Professor, Food Science & Agricultural Chemistry
T: 514 398-8666 | salwa.karboune [at] mcgill.ca (Email) | Webpage | Macdonald-Stewart Building, MS1-040
About Salwa Karboune
Salwa Karboune is Associate Dean (Research) and Associate Professor in the Department of Food Science and Agricultural Chemistry. She received a PhD degree from the University of Aix-Marseille, France and joined Macdonald Campus in 2002. She served on graduate and food science curriculum committees and was the Graduate Program Director from 2010 to 2015. Her main research expertise is in the design and development of new "green" approaches for the synthesis of novel functional food ingredients that can improve the quality and the functionality of food products. Currently her research program is focused on carbohydrate-based bioactive molecules: enzymatic synthesis, structural modification and characterization. Such a research is important as the structural and molecular roles of oligo/polysaccharides in biological systems are increasingly being recognized. Her research work also contributes to the sustainability of the Agri-Food sector by developing innovative biocatalytic approaches to generating highly added value functional ingredients from food-processing by-products (potato pulp & cranberry Pomace). Her multidisciplinary research program has garnered national and international recognition through the sustained excellence of the research her group conducted. Her research has attracted funding from CFI, FRQNT, NSERC and MAPAQ. As part of her R&D collaboration with industries, she has led NSERC Engage and CRD grants and has partnered with MITACS. The research of her group has been covered in media, such as McGill Reporter, CBC and Journal of Montreal.
Dr Karboune’s research program has proven to be effective in training HQP as evidenced by the successful careers of her former graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. Indeed, her program offers to the HQP a multidisciplinary learning environment in the areas of biocatalysis, food chemistry, carbohydrate synthesis, enzyme immobilization and structural characterization and recently modeling and nanotechnology. During the last 6 years, she supervised 6 postdoctoral fellows, 10 PhD students, 8 MSc thesis students, 14 MSc non thesis students, and 14 undergraduate students and 3 NSERC USRA projects. HQP in her lab have had excellent success in securing awards and scholarships and regularly win prizes for best scientific presentations. Dr. Karboune teaches food product development, food packaging and sensory evaluation courses. She is passionate about science and active learning, and she is a strong supporter of hands-on projects. After she successfully mentored a team of students to a third place prize at the prestigious 2014 IFT Food Product Development competition, she successfully led two other teams to first place prizes in July 2015 at the same IFT Food product Development competition.
At the National and International level, she is a committee member of the CFI Science Advisory Board, CIFST’s Scientific Expert Council, and the European Innovation Commission Advisory Board. This year 2015-2016, she chairs the NSERC Scholarships and Fellowships Selection Committee for Plant and Animal Biology. She also serves on editorial and advisory boards for journals in her field. She has established many international collaborations with the University of Lorraine (France), Genescope CEA Institute (Paris, France), French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM, Paris, France), Instituto de Catálisis, CSIC (Spain), Agronomic and Veterinary Institute of Rabat (IAV, Maroc) and ICBA (Dubai). She is currently leading the McGill-CTAC network initiative that aims at promoting industrial innovation and building collaborative research projects to address the priorities and the needs of the Quebec Agri-Food sector.