Natural Plant Substances—Structural and Application Aspects: A Theme Issue in Honor of Professor Wieslaw Oleszek

Dear Colleague,

This Special Issue is dedicated to the 45th anniversary of the career of Prof. Wiesław Oleszek in recognition of his outstanding scientific contributions to natural plant metabolites research.

Prof. Wiesław Oleszek was born in 1948 in Bełżyce, Poland. He studied at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University of Lublin and was awarded a degree in Physics in 1975. He then started his research career at the Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation in Puławy as a researcher. He was a Visiting Fellow at Cornell University in 1979–1980, where he researched glycoalkaloids in tomato and its progenies obtained from crossing wild Solanum species related to tomato (Solanum penelli and Solanum lycopersicoides). In 1985, he defended his doctoral dissertation “Alfalfa (Medicago media Pers.) and red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) root saponins and their allelopathic effect on wheat seedling growth”. In 1987, he spent 1 year as a Visiting Fellow at Cornell University, Food Science and Technology Department, Geneva N.Y., USA, conducting research on phenolic compounds from apples and their function in the enzymatic browning of fruits. Over a period of 3 months in 1989, he was a visiting scientist at Food Research Institute, Norwich, UK, where he studied the membrane activity of alfalfa saponins, applying NMR techniques for their structural elucidation. In 1991, he was awarded the title of a habilitated doctor (Associate Professor) while the subject of his habilitation thesis was “Saponins from the roots of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.): chemistry, biological activity and determination”. In 1992, he conducted his Postdoctoral Trainee Internship over a 3-month stay at INRA, Avignon, France, working on pear fruit phenolics. In 1992, he took up the position of a Head of Biochemistry and Crop Quality Department at the Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation, Puławy, Poland, a position he held until 2010. He was promoted to Full Professor by the President of Poland in 1989. He is currently the Director of the Institute of Soil Science and Plant Cultivation, State Research Institute, Puławy, Poland, a position he has held since his appointment in 2010.

Prof. Oleszek started his work in Phytochemical Society of Europe in 1994, first as a Committee Member (1994–1998) and then as General Secretary (2002–2007), incoming Vice President (2008–2010), President (2010–2012) and, finally, outgoing Vice President (2012–2014). He was a member of the International Allelopathy Society, the Domain Committee “Food and Agriculture” COST, Brussels, European Expert Panel on Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE), ECOFE – a research network to meet the needs of the 21st century crop science, Configuration ‘Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy’ of the Horizon 2020 Programme Committee, and a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Professor Oleszek serves on the editorial boards of Allelopathy Journal, Phytochemistry Letters, Polish Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences, Phytochemical Analysis, Open Journal of Biochemistry, and Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems (Crop Biology and Sustainability).

As a world-renowned scientist, Professor Oleszek has been invited to cooperate in 9 projects within 3 framework programs:

5th FP: Fate and toxicity of allelochemicals (natural plant toxins) in relation to environment and consumer (FATEALLCHEM).

6th FP: Evaluating physiological and environmental consequences of using organic wastes after technological processing in diets for livestock and humans (SAFEWASTES), ready-to-eat food for breakfast and sport with high content of nutraceutics preventing disease and promoting public health (NUTRA-SNACKS), Healthy Feed for Safety – Dissemination of research results of EC funded research on feed quality (FEED-SEC), Impact of new technologies on health benefits and safety of bioactive plant compounds, COST 926 action.

7th FP: Strengthen IUNG’s proficiency on Managing the production of food and feedstuff, their safety and quality under global Climatic Change, ProFiCienCy – coordinator, Edible, Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (EMAP), Safe Food for Europe – Coordination of research activities and dissemination of research results of EC funded research on food safety (FOODSEG), Optimising Subsidiary Crop Applications in Rotations (OSCAR).

Under Horizon 2020 – the research and innovation framework program, which was adopted by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union – the Professor coordinated two projects: New Strategies on Bio-Economy in Poland, call ERA Chair, work programme 2014-2015, section Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation (WIDESPREAD 2-2014: ERA Chair) 2014–2020, and Conservation and promotion of soil micro- and macroorganisms to improve soil structural and functional biodiversity of agricultural lands (SOILDIVER).

The latest national projects coordinated by Professor Oleszek include the following: Support for low-carbon agriculture able to adapt to observed climate change in the perspective of 2030 and 2050 (LCAgri). BIOSTRATEG, and Technology for the conversion of agriculture resources and wastes into D-lactic (D-LA) and (S)-(−)-2-chloropropionic (S-MCP) acids, semiproducts for the synthesis of biodegradable polymers and new forms of herbicides (S-MCP), BIOSTRATEG.

Prof. Oleszek has been a highly productive scientist throughout his career, with over 250 publications including research papers, reviews, books, and book chapters. The results of his studies have also been presented in communications at national and international meetings, where he was invited as a speaker for plenary lectures. His research interests cover numerous topics related to natural products, and are mainly focused on isolation, purification, structural and quantitative determination of plant glycosides (saponins, phenolics, glycoalkaloids, glucosinolates, resorcinols, cyanogenic glucosides), natural toxicants of plants – allelopathy, natural pesticides, post-harvest quality of agricultural products, natural antioxidants, and anticarcinogens, nutraceuticals biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, food and feed stuff additives, and functional food.

Professor Oleszek willingly shares his knowledge with the younger generation, being the supervisor of 8 doctoral dissertations.

He has been twice distinguished by the Polish Academy of Sciences for his work: in 1989 – a group award for the study of chemotaxonomy in Trigonellae; and in 2001 – an award for the study of plant saponins. In 1995, he was the laureate of the Foundation for Polish Science – Nutris 95.

His biographical note is eagerly publicized by many publishers, which proves worldwide recognition of the knowledge and merits of Prof. Oleszek in biological and agricultural sciences: Who is who in the world, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th editions; Who’s Who in Science and Engineering, 5th, 6th editions; Who’s Who in Polish Botany, Institute of Botany of Szafer PAN, Kraków 1995 (in Polish); International Biographical Center, Cambridge – Outstanding People of the Twentieth Century 1999, 1st edition; Biographical dictionary: The Living Polish Scientists, OPI Warsaw, 2000, (in Polish); Golden Book of Polish Science 2000 – Scientists of the turn of the century, HELION Gliwice 2001, (in Polish); International Biographical Center, Cambridge, Living Science, Vol. 1. (Sara Rains Ed.); Who’s Who in European Research and Development, 3rd Edition.

Prof. Dr. Anna Stochmal
Dr. Jerzy Żuchowski
Dr. Solomiia Kozachok
Dr. Andy J. Pérez
Dr. Łukasz Pecio
Guest Editors

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