Dufour Claire_2021_2.jpg
DUFOUR Claire
+33(0)4 32 72 25 15
Chargée de Recherche, HDR
Equipe QuAlim

EDUCATION
2010 Habilitation in Food science-Food engineering from the University of Montpellier (France)
(Habilitation à Diriger les Recherches)
1988-1993 Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio (USA)

Thesis title : « Novel Route to Di- and Triquinanes by Photocyclization Fragmentation of Norbornanes. Stereoselective Synthesis of Isocomene » Ph.D. advisor : Prof. Viresh H. Rawal.
Development of a general method for fragmenting the norbornane skeleton to yield fused di- et tricyclopentanes. Synthesis of diversely functionalized di- and tricycles. Application to total synthesis of natural product Isocomène (15 steps).

Other Project : Formation and cyclization of alkoxymethyl radicals and application to
the synthsis of furan and pyran derivatives.

Teaching assistant (3 years) in organic and analytical chemistries (undergraduate and master degrees).
1989 Chemical Engineer (School of Industrial Chemistry, ESCIL Lyon, now CPE Lyon)

RELEVANT CAREER EVENTS
 Oct. 2000–on Senior Research Scientist at the joint INRA/University of Avignon Unit “Safety and Quality of Plant Products”, Avignon.
Research activities focused on the physicochemical properties of dietary polyphenols in relation with their nutritional value:
- bioaccessibility of plant polyphenols in the gastrointestinal tract (in vitro static and dynamic digestion models, animal: minipig)
- inhibition of lipid oxidation by polyphenols in in vitro and in vivo digestion, in modeled plasma
- Antioxidant capacity of polyphenols in the DPPH test, ORAC test, though the study of lipid oxidation in SDS micelles of linoleic acid
- qualitative and quantitative analyses of polyphenols in plants (HPLC/MS, NMR)
- Binding between polyphenols and proteins (affinity constant determination, binding site
location)

1998 – 2000 Visiting scientist at the Laboratory of Polyphenols - University of Lyon
- Interaction studies between serum albumin and flavonoids (binding site location and affinity constant by spectrofluorometry)
- Inhibition of lipid oxidation by flavonoids in SDS micelles of linoleic acid (flavonoids act as retardants by inhibiting initiation rather than propagation)
- Kinetic studies of mono- and bielectronic oxidations of quercetin derivatives.


1994 – 1998 Research scientist at the INRA Unit « Science for enology », Montpellier
- Interaction studies between aroma compounds and wine macromolecules (polysaccharides, polyphenols) using NMR, gas chromatography, or UV-vis spectroscopy.
- Immunenzymatic titration of pyrazines (hapten synthesis, conjugation to protein, antibody production, and Elisa Test)
1994 Postdoctoral Research fellow at Roussel Uclaf Research Center (now Sanofi-Aventis),
Romainville (93) Hemisynthesis of new leading antibiotics of the macrolide family as inhibitors of resistant bacterial strain.

PUBLICATION RECORDS
Total number of publications: 46 (in peer-reviewed journals listed in Science Citation Index)
Book chapters: 6
Selected Recent Publications:
• M. Minekus, M. Alminger, ..., C. Dufour, ...and A. Brodkorb. A standardised static in vitro digestion method
suitable for food – an international consensus, Food & Function, 2014, 5, 1113-1124.
• Alminger M., Aura A.-M., Bohn T., Dufour C., El S.N., Gomes A., Karakaya S., Martínez-Cuesta M.C.,
McDougall G.J., Requena T., and Santos C.N. In Vitro Models for Studying Secondary Plant Metabolite Digestion
and Bioaccessibility. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, 2014, 13, 413–436.
• M. Gobert, D. Rémond, M. Loonis, C. Buffière, V. Santé-Lhoutellier, C. Dufour. Fruits, vegetables and
their polyphenols protect dietary lipids from oxidation during gastric digestion, Food & Function, 2014, 5, 2166-
2174.
• Lorrain B., Dangles O., Loonis M., Armand M., Dufour C. Dietary iron-initiated lipid oxidation and its
inhibition by polyphenols in gastric conditions. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2012, 60, 9074–9081.
OTHER SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES
• Direction/co-direction of 6 PhD students, co-supervision of 5 PhD students, supervision of 16
undergraduate students.
• Thesis committee member for undergraduate and PhD students
• Reviewing experience for journals in food science, chemistry and nutrition
• Reviewing experience for fundings (Danish Council for Independent Research, INSA,
ANRT, CAPES COFECUB, ECOS...)
• Member of the COST Action FA 1005 (InfoGest, coord. D. Dupont), Expertise in the
WG2 (harmonisation of gastrointestinal digestion conditions) (2012-2015)


INSTITUTIONAL APPOINTMENTS:
• Member of the scientific committee of the INRA-CEPIA department (2011- 2016)
• Member of the communication group of the INRA department CEPIA (2007- )
• Member of the scientific commission of the INRA research center of Avignon (2007-2011)
• Member of the Board of Groupe Polyphénols (2002-2008)