Eva Balsa Canto

My scientific career began in 1997 with my PhD work at the (Bio)process Engineering group at IIM-CSIC. My PhD aimed at developing robust and efficient simulation and optimisation methods suited to the optimal control of food processes and bioprocesses.

In 2001, I started my postdoctoral training at the International Centre for Numerical Methods in Engineering (CIMNE) and later in the Applied Mathematics II Dept.-University of Vigo. My research focused on 1) developing tools to simulate food processing, 2) defining concepts and tools based on artificial intelligence towards optimal control and 3) designing a hybrid global optimisation method.

In 2005 I began to work in systems biology: modelling and identifying models of intracellular biochemical networks. Since then, I have worked from a multiscale perspective in the modelling and optimisation of bioprocesses and biological systems. From a theoretical point of view, I have developed concepts, methods and software tools to systematise the modelling and optimisation of dynamic systems. From a practical point of view, I have considered relevant food industry processes, used predictive microbiology for food quality and safety and systems biology to explain cellular metabolism in food biotechnology.

Today, my research focuses on applying systems biology concepts to describe, predict and optimise biosystems and bioprocesses, mostly related to food biotechnology and, more recently, to ecosystems in aquaculture.

My research asks a simple question: how can we build models of complex biosystems that are not only predictive, but also reliable enough to be used in practice? To address this, I work at the intersection of mechanistic modeling, machine learning, identifiability analysis, experimental design, and optimization. A central theme in my work is that good fits are not enough: models should be interpretable, supported by data, and useful for understanding, monitoring, and decision-making in real bioprocesses. I am also interested in how such models can support the development of digital twins for real-time monitoring, prediction, and process optimization. My main application areas include bioprocess systems, food biotechnology, fermentation or microbial communities.