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 Born in 1976, in Zagreb, to
a couple of well-known scientists, who dedicated years of research to
biomedicine, Jasenka Piljac Žegarac
experienced
the beauty and hardships of two worlds, Croatia and California. During
her seven-year-long biochemistry and molecular biology studies in
California, J. Piljac found that the one thing common to scientists in
both worlds is the eagerness for scientific truth. She graduated with
honors at the University of California at Davis, in top 10% of her
class. For continued academic achievement, J. PIljac received numerous
scholarships and awards during her studies at UC Davis, including
Dean's Honors List, California grant A, UC Regents Scholarship,
etc…
In the laboratory of Professor Carole
Meredith at UC Davis, where prestigious grape genetics studies were
conducted, Jasenka Piljac Žegarac learned the steps involved in
practical, real
science. Partly due to patriotic reasons and partly due to scientific
curiosity, her interests in grape genetics were further deepened during
the search for Croatian origins of the famous Californian Zinfandel
grape. Along with a Ph.D. in molecular biology, and numerous scientific
and professional publications, the result of the author's infatuation
with Dalmatia, tradition and grapes is a comprehensive publication on
the Croatian origins of Zinfandel – 'Zinfandel: A
Croatian-American Wine Story'.
The author's wish to eventually return to
Croatia and continue with grape and wine research was granted in 1998.
She is currently working on several grape-related projects (compilation
of an ampelographic/genetics database, research of antioxidative
properties of wine phenolics) at the multidisciplinary research
institute 'Ruđer Bošković' in Zagreb.
Selected publications:
PUBLICATION IN A PROFESSIONAL
JOURNAL
Piljac J. (2003)
Original Zin: The mystery unraveled. Winemaker ,
Dec. 2003-Jan. 2004, pp.64.
Pejić I.,
Mirošević N., Maletić E., Piljac J., Meredith C.P. (2000) Relatedness
of cultivars Plavac mali, Zinfandel and Primitivo ( Vitis
vinifera L.), Agriculturae Conspectus
Scientificus , 65(1):21-25.
SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS CITED IN CC
Stipčević, T., Piljac
J., Vanden Berghe, D.
(2006) Effect
of different flavonoids on collagen synthesis in human
fibroblasts. Plant Foods for Human Nutrition,
in
press.
Piljac, J., Martinez,
S., Valek, L., Stipčević, T.,
Kovačević Ganić;, K. (2005) A
comparison of methods used to define the phenolic content and
antioxidant activity of Croatian wines.
Food Technol. Biotechnol.
43(3), 271-276.
Martinez S., Valek L.,
Petrović Ž., Metikoš-Huković; M.,
Piljac J. (2005) Catechin
Antioxidant Action at Various pH Studied by Cyclic Voltammetry and PM3
Semi-empirical Calculations. Journal of Electroanalytical
Chemistry. 584(2):92-99.
Martinez S., Valek L.,
Piljac J., Metikoš-Huković M. (2005) Determination
of Wine Antioxidant Capacity by Derivative Potentiometric Titration
with Electrogenerated Chlorine. European Food Research and
Technology
220 (5-6): 658-661.
Maletić E., Pejić I.,
Kontić J.K., Piljac J., Dangl G. S., Lacombe T., Mirošević
N., Meredith C. P. (2004) Zinfandel,
Dobričić and Plavac mali: The
Genetic Relationship among Three Cultivars of the Dalmatian Coast of
Croatia, Am. J. Enol. Vitic., 55(2):174-180
Metikoš-Huković
M., Babić R., Piljac J. (2004) Kinetics
and electrocatalysis of
methanol oxidation on electrodeposited Pt and Pt 70 Ru 30 catalysts.
New
Material. Electrochem. Sys., 7:179-190
Piljac J., Martinez
S., Stipčević T., Petrović Ž., Metikoš-Huković M. (2004) A
Cyclic Voltammetry Investigation of The Phenolic Content of Croatian
Wines. Am. J. Enol. Vitic. ,
55(4):417-422
Metikoš-Huković
M., Tklačec E., Kwokal A., Piljac J. (2003) An
in vitro Study of Ti and
Ti-alloys Coated with Sol-Gel Derived Hydroxyapatite Coatings,
Surf.
& Coat. Technolog. 165:40-50.
Kwokal A., Piljac J.
and Metikoš-Huković M. (2003) The
Influence of Niobium and
Vanadium on Passivity of Titanium Based Implants in Physiological
Solution , Biomaterials 24:3765-3775.
Piljac J., Maletić E.,
Kontić J. K., Dangl G. S., Pejić I., Mirošević N., Meredith
C. P. (2002) The
parentage of Pošip bijeli, a major white
wine cultivar of Croatia, Vitis 41(2):83-87.
Jukić A., Piljac J.,
Metikoš - Huković M. (2001) Electrocatalytic
behaviour of
the Co 33 Zr 67 amorphous alloy for the hydrogen evolution, Journal
of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical , 166:293-302.
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