Meet Laura Carbonell-Rozas

Laura develops more sustainable and efficient analytical workflows for food safety, guided by the principles of Green Analytical Chemistry. Her work combines sustainable sample preparation with techniques including ion mobility spectrometry and high-resolution mass spectrometry, aiming to reduce solvent and reagent consumption while improving the detection and characterization of contaminants.

“What excites me most is the opportunity to bridge advanced analytical research and real-world laboratory applications,” she says. “Analytical science is facing increasing pressure to analyze more contaminants, at lower levels and in more complex matrices, while also reducing its environmental footprint.”

Laura believes the field must close the gap between technological innovation and routine implementation. “Methods must ultimately be robust, transferable, cost-effective, and practical for routine laboratories,” she says. “Green Analytical Chemistry should not be treated as an optional extra or as something added to a method after it has been developed. Sustainability should be considered from the very beginning, alongside sensitivity, selectivity, and robustness.”

Working in several countries and moving between academia, international research institutions, and industrial R&D have allowed Laura to view method development from different perspectives. “Scientific impact goes beyond publication,” she says. “I now have the opportunity to help translate research into practical analytical solutions that can benefit laboratories, industry, and society.”