Juan Francisco Ayala Cabrera

Juan Francisco Ayala Cabrera

PhD Researcher María Zambrano

PhD in Analytical Chemistry and Environment
Faculty of Science and Technology

Born in 1992. He got his Bachelor’s in Chemistry (2014) from the University of La Laguna (Spain) and his MSc in Analytical Chemistry (2015) from the University of Barcelona (Spain). Then, he obtained a predoctoral scholarship (FPU) and he get his PhD (2020, Cum Laude, international mention, extraordinary award) entitled “New Analytical Methodologies based on Chromatography-Atmospheric Pressure Ionization-Mass Spectrometry for the Determination of Halogenated Organic Contaminants” in Analytical Chemistry and the Environment from the University of Barcelona (Spain). He was employed as a postdoctoral researcher (2020-2022) at the Applied Analytical Chemistry Department of the University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany) where he worked on the development of new ionization sources based on atmospheric pressure plasma (TPI) and photoionization (APPI) for LC-MS and GC-MS couplings. Since 2023, he is a Maria Zambrano postdoctoral researcher at the Analytical Chemistry Department and Plentzia Marine Station (PiE) of the University of the Basque Country. Current research interests include the development of new analytical instrumentation based on chromatography-mass spectrometry (i.e., multidimensional separations, ion sources, ionization efficiency improvements, non-targeted strategies, and workflows, etc.) to improve the determination of organic contaminants (i.e., PFAS, PAHs, HFRs, etc.) in environmental samples and biological fluids using both targeted and non-targeted approaches. He has authored 24 publications (peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, proceedings, etc.) and has presented more than 40 talks/posters at national and international meetings. Juanfra has supervised or is currently supervising several Bachelor, MSc, PhD students and he is a board member of the Spanish Society of Mass Spectrometry (SEEM).