Pawel Gornas

Structural unit
Unit of Processing and Biochemistry
Position
Leading researcher
Degree
Dr. sc. ing.
Scientific interests and expertise

  • Utilization of the agro-industrial by-products and medicinal plants for recovery of hydrophilic and lipophilic bioactive compounds.

  • Application of environmentally friendly techniques of extraction and determination of the bioactive compounds.

  • Unconventional sources of oil with potential high utilized value.

  • Development of innovative and simplified approaches for the rapid detection of bioactive compounds via HPLC and SFC.

Activity directions
  • Assessment of the significant potential of unconventionally sourced vegetable oil and biologically active compounds - hydrophilic (phenolic compound) and lipophilic (tocopherol, tocotrienol, PC-8, carotenoid, phytosterol and fatty acids) - in food and pharmacy production.
  • Study of the biologically active compounds of plant-based raw material and processed products and factors that influence their concentration levels.
  • Development of new, alternative and innovative analysis methods for work with HPLC - the active compounds as potential quality and authenticity markers in horticultural crops and products.
Major accomplishments

Scientific publications (5 out of 81 published between the years 2004-2024):

  • G. Baškirovs, K. Dukurs, A. Soliven, P. Górnaś, Evaluation of RPLC stationary phases for tocopherol and tocotrienol positional isomer separation: Method development and profiling. Talanta, 277, 2024, 126360, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.talanta.2024.126360;

  • G. Baškirovs, A. Soliven, P. Górnaś, Supercritical fluid chromatography with fluorescence detection for tocochromanol profiling in oils and seed ethanol extracts: A comparative study with NPLC. Microchemical Journal, 199, 2024, 110225, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.microc.2024.110225;

  • P. Górnaś, D. Lazdiņa, I. Mišina, E. Sipeniece, D. Segliņa, Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Aiton) seeds: An exceptional source of tocotrienols. Scientia Horticulturae, 331, 2024, 113107, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2024.113107;

  • A. Siger, P. Górnaś, Free tocopherols and tocotrienols in 82 plant species’ oil: Chemotaxonomic relation as demonstrated by PCA and HCA. Food Research International, 164, 2023, 112386, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2022.112386;

  • G. Baškirovs, A. Soliven, P. Górnaś, Analytical scale supercritical fluid chromatography for the analysis of nine tocochromanols in 24 different cold-pressed plant oils: Method development, validation, and isolation of tocotrienols and plastochromanol-8. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 110, 2022, 104586, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfca.2022.104586.

Research projects (last three years):

  • Iceland Liechtenstein Norway project: EEA-RESEARCH-170-RC, INnovative TEchnologies for REcovery of valuable compounds from agri-food and seafood side STreams for food applications (INTEREST) (2023-2024);

  • National Research program “Horticultural crop breeding program”, No: 10.9.1-11/24/1543-e (2024).

  • Latvian Council of Science project: lzp-2021/1-0651, Genus Hypericum as a new valuable source of tocotrienols and tocochromanol-related molecules – from ornamental crop to industrial applications (2021-2024);

  • Latvian Council of Science project: lzp-2020/1-0422, Dicotyledonous plant families and green tools as a promising alternative approach to increase the accessibility of tocotrienols from unconventional sources (2020-2023);

  • ERDF project: 1.1.1.1/16/A/094, Environment-friendly cultivation of emerging commercial fruit crop – Japanese quince (Chaenomeles japonica) and waste-free methods of its processing (2017-2020);

  • Production of biodegradable polymers from renewable sources for the development of edible coatings and packaging materials for fruits. No.19-00-A01612-000004 (2019-2022);

  • Development of new vegetable - edamame growing technology in organic production, No. I7-00-401620-000004 (2018 - 2021).

Publications