Daniela Barile

Daniela Barile is a Professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology at the University of California, Davis. Her research focuses on milk functional glycomics, combining analytical chemistry, engineering, and biological approaches to characterize bioactive food components. She holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Food Science and Chemistry from the University of Piemonte Orientale, Italy. Key areas of expertise include mass spectrometry-based glycomics, separation technologies for food components, and prebiotic oligosaccharide development.

Awards include the 2020 UC Davis Chancellor’s Innovation Award (Innovator of the Year), 2017 Chancellor’s Fellow, and 2014 Dean’s Team Award. Her work spans food waste valorization, dairy and plant-based product development, and gut microbiome interactions. She collaborates with the Milk Process Research Lab to scale-up bioactive fractionation processes and has pioneered methods for isolating health-promoting compounds from colostrum, grape pomace, and legume byproducts.

Research themes include: 1) Discovery of bioactive carbohydrates/peptides via advanced analytics; 2) Membrane filtration and enzymatic strategies for compound isolation; 3) Prebiotic functionality and metabolic impacts. Recent projects explore Thai plant-based milk alternatives, engineered plant production of human milk oligosaccharides, and functional characterization of almond and chickpea proteins.

Her lab integrates glycomics, peptidomics, and metabolomics with food processing innovations, aiming to translate discoveries into functional food ingredients. Current efforts emphasize sustainable utilization of agricultural byproducts and improving nutritional profiles of dairy and plant-based products.