Mathews Journal of Pharmaceutical Science

Maja Dent

Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry & Laboratory for Analytical Chemistry
University of Zagreb
Croatia

Associate Professor Maja Dent completed her primary and secondary education in Zagreb. Since 2003, she has worked in the Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, at the Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, University of Zagreb. In 2002, she graduated from the Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, University of Zagreb, with a diploma in Food Technology. In 2013, she completed her doctoral thesis at the same faculty in the field of biotechnical sciences. She has furthered her education by attending various schools and workshops on analytical methods: mass spectrometry (2013), chromatography (2018, 2019), NMR spectroscopy (2015), nutrition (2016), mentoring (2017), lifelong learning (2022), application of AI in teaching (2025), entrepreneurship (2015), and intellectual property (2016). In 2016, she spent three months at the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Maribor University of Applied Sciences, Slovenia, to advance her academic and professional development. She is the first or co-author of 16 scientific papers, 13 of which are indexed in the SCI-Expanded database. As a researcher, she has been actively involved in four scientific projects. She has participated in many international congresses, delivering five oral presentations and presenting 18 posters showcasing her research results. As a co-author, she won the prize for best poster at the Total Food 2014 congress in the United Kingdom. She has served as guest editor for the journal Separations (2024) and is currently guest editor for ChemEngineering (2025). During her employment, she has actively participated in teaching undergraduate and postgraduate courses at the Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology (Analytical Chemistry, Introduction to Chemistry and Chemical Analysis, Instrumental Analysis, Chemistry I) and in study programmes at the Faculty of Health (Chemistry and Biochemistry). She has successfully supervised eight undergraduate theses, nine diploma theses, and one doctoral thesis. The active involvement of students in the scientific research of Maja Dent, Ph.D., has resulted in the publication of one scientific paper with an undergraduate student and three scientific papers with a doctoral student. She has contributed to the popularisation of science at the Science Festival in Zagreb in 2021, 2023, and 2024, where she led the workshops "Essential oils and hydrolates – from production to application" and "Do not throw away the citrus peel! Isolate the essential oil!". She has been head of the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory at her faculty since 2024. She has been a permanent member of the Faculty Council of the Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology since 2021. She is a member of the Committee for Final and Diploma Theses (2024–present) and was a member of the Committee for Informatization of the Faculty of Food and Biotechnology (2015–2019 and 2021–2024). Since 2016, she has been a member of the Croatian Society for Food Technology, Biotechnology and Nutrition in Zagreb. Her scientific work focuses on new developments and trends in sustainable and green chemistry, including innovative extraction methods (ultrasound, high hydrostatic pressure, microwaves, enzymes) and the application of extracts and biopolymers isolated from various food wastes and by-products of industrial processing. She also investigates the application of extracts and extracted biopolymers in various functional forms and their physicochemical testing.