Yves Desjardins, Ph.D., Agr., has been a full professor at the Plant Science Department of the Faculty of Agriculture of Laval University for more than 15 years. He is an active member of INAF, the Institute of Nutrition and Functional Foods. He was recently appointed Dianafood-NSERC Industrial Chair on prebiotic effects of fruits and vegetables (PhenoBio). Trained in plant physiology, he is conducting research on phytochemistry and functionality of bioactive compounds from plants. Dr. Desjardins is scientifically supervising the activities of the Plant Bioactive Analysis Laboratory at INAF and is specializing in extraction, characterization and bioavailability of phytochemical compounds and particularly those found in berries.
He is PI or collaborator on many major preclinical and clinical studies on type-2 diabetes, cognitive decline, low-grade inflammation, urinary tract infection, skin diseases, and oral infections. He is also co-applicant with Dr. Paul Angers (PI) in an important program on the valorization of co-products from fruits and vegetables funded by 5 companies and NSERC. Yves Desjardins has demonstrated his research managerial skill being director of many important national networks (Réseau québécois de recherche en phytoprotection ; Réseau d’innovation en horticulture durable; President of Can. Soc. Hortic. Sci.) and was director of the Horticultural Research Center recognized as a FRQNT strategic centre in Québec.
Over the years, he has accompanied many horticultural and food processing companies in the development and the validation of the health benefits of horticultural commodities (e.g. Glucophénol4, Neurophénol5). This last consortium project was awarded the innovation price in 2013 at the in France (Spring of the pôle AgriSud-Ouest Innovation) as a notable example of collaborative research between industry and universities (U. Laval and U. Bordeaux) with important spin-offs. At the international scene, he is recognized for his innovative research program. He organized the first International Symposium on Health Effects of Fruits and Vegetables in Québec City (FAVHEALTH 2005; Editor of Acta Hortic. # 744) and the OECD Symposium -“Emerging Topics in Health Effects Fruit and Vegetables” (Editor of Acta Hortic. # 939) in Lisbon, Portugal (2010). He was nominated in 2005 as Chair of the ISHS Commission Fruit and Vegetable and Health a position he occupied until 2010 after being elected on the Board of this prestigious international scientific society. He organized in 2016 the International Strawberry Symposium (750 participants), which made a large place to health effects of this fruit. Recently (October 2017), he organized the leading International Congress on Polyphenols and Health (www.ICPH2017-Québec.org) (>350 world renowned participants). Its leadership in the field is recognized worldwide; he has been invited on numerous occasions to give keynote lectures at international meetings over the last few years (>20).
Dr. Desjardins has established many important international collaborations. For example, he collaborates with Maastricht University (NUTRIM), with the CIATEJ (Guadalajara, Mexique) and with the international consortium (NUTRIBIOTA, France, Belgium)(e.g. French ANR project SINFONI, with DianaFood and Mondelez). He his active collaborator in the activities of the Affiliated International Laboratory (LIA- NUTRIOPTIBRAIN) between Bordeaux and Laval Universities. He has recently been appointed on the scientific committee of the Mixed Research Unit MicroMenu between INAF and the CNR Institute of Biochemical Chemistry in Naples, Italy. He has been invited to become external advisor of the GoodBerry European Cost Action (2016-2019) and consult on breeding for health of strawberry. Stemming from his large international network of collaboration, he has been nominated director of international affairs of INAF in 2010.
Dr. Desjardins has written more than 120 publications (index-h de 18.1) and has trained many graduate students at the Master (29), at the Ph. D. (10) and the Postdoctoral level (12) since the beginning of his career. He sat on numerous master and Ph.D. thesis review (more than 67) and has participated as an examiner on more than 21 Ph.D. thesis evaluation committee in Canada and internationally. Since 2013, he filed 3 patents.