Dr. Rafael Jimenez-Flores

Rafael Jiménez-Flores is originally from Mexico City. He received his undergraduate education at La Salle University in Mexico City with a major in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Food Science, followed by a M.S. degree from Cornell University and Ph.D. degree from U.C. Davis in Food Science and Agricultural Chemistry. Among his projects, he was among the first scientists that cloned milk proteins for their structure-function studies. Further work involved the cloning, engineering and mammary gland directed expression in transgenic animals. He continued his work on dairy technology by focusing on milk fat, the milk fat globule membrane, and a process to remove cholesterol from butter oil.
His first academic position was as Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition, where he led the dairy chemistry and technology program. After 5 years at the University of Illinois, he moved to the California Polytechnic State University and was part of the Dairy Products Technology Center. His areas of research focused on novel methods for dairy processing, characterization of the milk fat globule membrane, surface interactions of milk components and lactic acid bacteria, spore incidence in dairy processing plants, and biological activity of milk components. He later became the Director of the Cal Poly Center for Applications in Biotechnology. After 21 years at Cal Poly, he joined Ohio State’s Department of Food Science and Technology in 2016 as the JT ‘Stubby’ Parker Endowed Chair in Dairy Foods. Dr. Jimenez-Flores has 6 patents, numerous book chapters and over 150 peer reviewed articles covering several aspects of dairy science and technology.

Area of Expertise: Dairy Food Science, Technology, Processing and Molecular Biology. Chemistry and biochemistry of milk and dairy food components, application of molecular biology to assess of biological active compounds from milk and dairy. Proteomics and metagenomics applied to dairy.

Click here for Rafael Jimenez-Flores's full curriculum vitae.