Professor Carbonell Barrachina: UPWr is full of my friends

You come from a small town near Alicante, but you didn’t become a farmer like your parents, choosing science instead. Why?

I was born at an almond and olive farm between two small villages, Xixona and Tibi (Alicante province). But when I was 4 years-old, my parents moved to a bigger city, San Vicente del Raspeig, in order for me and my sisters to study and have a better future. But, … if I have to be honest, I've always felt like I had a farmer's soul. In any case, I want to use this opportunity to thank all farmers for their hard work and dedication to feed us all. The importance of agriculture and farmers was evident during the lockdown due to COVID-19, when they had to risk their lives to produce food for the rest of society.

Regarding choosing science, I was always curious about finding explanations for things, very disciplined and hard-working. So I decided to study chemistry to be able to explain things. I feel that chemistry stands behind many things in daily life.   

I deeply recommend all young researchers to travel and work abroad. There will be hard days and nights, but in the end, it will be worth it. Do it, please.

What do you owe to your parents and first teachers?

This is a very simple question, I owe them and my family EVERYTHING I AM. Thanks to the hard work of my parents, my two sisters and I were able to study chemistry and chemical engineering and have very good jobs today. They never had holidays or traveled abroad until recently, when they retired and started a new life. Besides, I also want to thank my wife Carol, for her continual support since we met; I also owe her everything I am. 

Besides, having great teachers is essential to decide what you want to do in the future, especially when you are a teenager. I still remember one of my physics and chemistry teachers at secondary school. He is the one responsible for my decision to study chemistry. He made it so easy for me ,that when I went to sit an exam, I almost knew the questions; I could read his mind and understand exactly what he wanted from us. It is essential to have great secondary school teachers, who teach kids theory as well as passion for their subject. 

You studied chemistry, and specialized in inorganic analysis. Its origins can be traced back to the first century AD, when Pliny the Elder described the method of identifying silver next to gold by precipitating silver chloride. When you started working in a lab, did you feel that you were entering a world which has been scientifically shaped for centuries?

Oh my God, no, no. I was so worried about making mistakes in the laboratory that I couldn’t think. I started to analyse different matrixes for arsenic species in 1990. At that time, performing arsenic speciation was very difficult and we started from scratch. So I had to fully focus on the present and try to get in touch with experts in analytical chemistry to be able to conduct these analyses. Fortunately, there are always kind people around that help you out in reaching your goals. I started step by step and was so lucky to visit many labs during my life; I had the tremendous honour of working at many places around the world, for instance, Bristol (UK), Baton Rouge (Louisiana, USA), Dayton (Ohio, USA), Lleida (Catalonia, Spain), Wrocław (Poland), Aberdeen (Scotland, UK), Hermosillo (Sonora, Mexico), and Manhattan (Kansas, USA). Traveling and working abroad opens your mind completely and enriches your knowledge and vision in research and life. I deeply recommend all young researchers to travel and work abroad. There will be hard days and nights, but in the end, it will be worth it. Do it, please.

Chemistry is derived from alchemy, the search for the philosopher's stone and attempts to obtain gold from sand. As a modern chemist, do you feel a little like a magician solving a mystery?

Look, what is true is that we are very lucky nowadays because our analytical equipment is just fantastic. We have hyphenated techniques, such as HPLC-ICP-MS or HPLC-MS/MS which allow us to analyse, identify and quantify almost everything. The most difficult issue is trying to justify why this element is somewhere and is it because of natural causes or due to anthropogenic activities. So yes, we are like magicians because we are able to investigate things that were science fiction a few years ago. Besides, every time researchers find an answer to a question, there are many other questions which are raised simultaneously. Thus, the mystery will go on and on and on. But as “modest” researchers we must keep working scientifically without magic tricks to be able to make life easier for people and leave a better planet for the future generations. 

We were able to provide arsenic-free water to about 20.000 villagers and looking at their faces when opening these water-treatment plants was just amazing. 

You are a WHO expert, a record holder of citations concerning arsenic determination. Albert the Great, an alchemist, obtained it in its pure form, but some say that the Arabs and Chinese were first. Arsenic compounds have been used for centuries to treat various diseases and today they are used in the production of semiconductors and warfare agents. How does a chemist look at arsenic? 

Arsenic is a very special element; it is a metalloid and if you ask anyone on the streets if arsenic is good or bad, everybody will tell you that it is a poison and can kill you. But in fact, this is not fully correct. There are different types of arsenic. Simply speaking, there is inorganic arsenic which is carcinogenic but there is also organic arsenic which is not dangerous for us. This duality is what makes it so difficult to understand. Most people only think about Agatha Christie’s novels and a coffee poisoned with inorganic arsenic. However, organic arsenic is abundant in fish and seafood. Countries such as Spain and Japan have the highest intake of seafood in the world, and have no health problems related to it. However, the case in India and Bangladesh is completely different and inorganic arsenic is causing the biggest poisoning in human history, with more than 80 million people potentially affected by health problems caused by this element. The main illness is called black food disease and makes people die before reaching the age of 50 in rural areas of West Bengal. There are many factors causing this dramatic situation, poor diet, mainly based on rice which is a grain with the highest accumulation of inorganic arsenic due to it being cultivated under flooded conditions, drinking water also polluted with inorganic arsenic, etc. 

What was the most interesting aspect of working for the WHO?

We had projects funded by the European Union and the World Bank near Calcutta and this is the most striking research I have ever done in my whole life. We were able to provide arsenic-free water to about 20.000 villagers and looking at their faces when opening these water-treatment plants was just amazing. 

So everything started in India but later we started to question whether arsenic related health problems could be reaching European consumers and to our surprise, they are. At least two groups of consumers are at a significant risk: children below 3 years of age and people with celiac disease; their risk is basically linked to their repetitive and restricted diet rich in rice-based products. After many years of working with arsenic, in 2016, the EFSA established a maximum limit for inorganic arsenic in rice and rice-based products with lower limits in rice for children; but we are still fighting to get this low limit for products for celiac consumers.

You have created a few sensory panels that deal with herb examinations, among other things. What does that look like?

Yes, we’ve selected, trained and validated sensory panels worldwide. We have been very lucky in this research area because we work together with probably one of the best research teams in the world, the Sensory Analysis Center of Kansas State University, which was run and directed by my great friend, Prof. Edgar Chambers IV. Working with our senses as analytical tools is just amazing. You’d never imagine just how sensitive our senses are. But I can tell you for instance, that our sense of smell can be linked to a gas chromatograph to describe the notes and intensity of each of the peaks being separated by the equipment. It is amazing how good our senses are, but… proper training must be conducted in order to obtain reliable and objective data. Conducting sensory analysis is not enjoying wine tasting with friends; it is a completely different thing that will help to provide consumers with products of the highest quality to satisfy their demands and needs. It’s so much more than enjoying wine. To give you some insight, I can tell you that to select, train and validate a sensory panel, 15 sessions of about 1.5 hours are needed, with 10 trained panellists and with an economic investment of about 15.000 euros. 

What can we learn from this research and how is it used by, for example, the food and pharmaceutical industries?

Food companies use both trained panels and consumer panels. You can't develop new products without trying them out on the market and studying the consumers’ reaction and opinion. Besides, to be able to fully control the production chain within a food company a trained panel is needed to establish which organoleptic markers are the most appropriate ones to control the product quality. Besides, Regulating Councils of Protected Designation of Origin (PDOs) and Geographical Protected Indications (GPIs) need tools to check if their products have been produced according to their legal requirements and trained panels are used all over the European Union. I have been working for the Spanish National Accreditation Entity (ENAC) auditing panel in Spain to be sure that they work properly and follow the scientific method.

People who work in something they enjoy are very lucky and, in general, are more successful than others.

It is said that "you are what you eat." How does a chemist look at dietary supplements? Are modern people addicted to food or are they addicted to diets which are supposed to provide them with youth and health?

You see, I am quite a fan of the Mediterranean diet and seasonal products. I work a lot with functional foods, antioxidants, and so on, but my main recommendation is to follow a varied and balanced diet and enjoy seasonal vegetables and fruits that will be full of flavour. I recommend that all readers do this next exercise. Take a notebook and write down all the food you eat during one week, and see how varied your diet is. In most cases, you will eat no more than 15 different products, which is a pity in countries with a great variety of vegetables, fruits and meat products. Try to include new food items each week into your diet and this will make you healthier and happier. 

So, my reply to your question is, yes, perhaps yes, we are addicted to healthy food and dietary supplements when the thing, in my opinion, is much easier: diversify your diet, eat local and seasonal products, and reduce processed and ready-to-eat products and you will not need to spend lots of money on fancy and fashionable products. Perhaps this answer does not fully agree with some of my research topics, but in our daily life, if we have access to fresh products, let’s try to enjoy them as much as we can and forget about dietary supplements. 

What is more important in a scientist's work: curiosity, passion or reliability? Or is it only the combination of these three elements that can lead to success in research?

A scientist must be curious, work with passion and be reliable in his research. So it should be a combination of these three elements. Besides them, two more concepts are essential to me for succeeding in research – multidisciplinarity and international cooperation. Having a multidisciplinary and international approach to research will guarantee a wide approach to research and higher chances of reaching your objectives. 

Curiosity will help to question everything in your research activity; we cannot take anything for granted and need to demonstrate even the simplest things. Science is about asking questions and finding answers. Passion will help you to spend more hours at work without realizing and getting tired. People who work in something they enjoy are very lucky and, in general, are more successful than others. Besides, we as professors need to spread this passion towards science and research to our degree and postgraduate students in order to make them love their work. Reliability is the core of all scientific methods and we cannot do anything which is not reliable and reproducible; for being reliable you need to master experiment design, analytical techniques, statistics, and many other things that will make your studies interesting for the scientific community and useful for society, including farmers, private companies, and even consumers.  

Modern researchers admit that the more they discover, the less they know. What surprised you in your work as a scientist?

This statement is completely true. In research, when you find an answer to a question, there are many new questions that simultaneously arise. What has surprised me the most is how easy it is nowadays to establish international cooperation and how easy it is to work with people from other countries. With low-cost airlines, for instance, it is cheaper and easier to take a plane from Alicante to Wrocław, have our samples analysed here and fly back, than to travel to Madrid by train and do the same things. This is something that has already changed our way of working and facing research issues. The complementarity among international research teams is essential, in my opinion, to have a complete approach to research and to solve these problems in a way that is applicable worldwide. When I started to work in 1998 at UMH there was not a single international student in our campus in Orihuela; nowadays, you walk around our campus and can easily find students and researchers from Ecuador, Colombia, Romania, Poland, Slovakia, Thailand, … This is fantastic, and every day it amazes me. 

Science is waiting for another breakthrough. One of them was the discovery of genes followed by the understanding of the human genome. We are still waiting for the perfect cure for cancer. Artificial intelligence is also a challenge. What breakthroughs await us in the next 5-10 years? What is the biggest challenge for humanity today: global warming, overpopulation, lack of water, new diseases? 

I think all these topics you raised are very important for humanity but we, researchers, must focus on our own small niches. In fact, my research team is working on sustainability and especially water sustainability. For me, it is essential to find proper ways of helping farmers to keep producing high-quality agricultural products with the use of less irrigation water. We've named these products, hydroSOStainable products and are working hard to promote them. This research line is also related to global warming and the changes created in farming worldwide; for instance, a couple of decades back, there were hardly any grapevines growing here in Poland. Nowadays, better and better wines are being made using Polish grapes. 

But, of course, health issues are the most relevant ones because without health, life is not possible. COVID-19, cancer, obesity, etc., are topics that will be hot for many years and will surely get the attention of the scientific community. Governments must be aware, and willing to spend more money on research, because it has been clearly demonstrated by COVID-19 that we need to invest in research in order to be able to have medical systems, and to react fast against any threats to our lifestyle. Without investing in research our future will be bleak; I hope the COVID-19 pandemic has made world leaders realize how important research is for our future.

You are an avid football fan and you were a coach. Which qualities important in sport, are also useful in science?

In every aspect of life, working hard, day after day, is essential to succeed. I have seen many talented people waste their talent because they lacked the character or discipline to work every single day. If I have to highlight one single aspect of my personality it would be hard-working. In fact, I must admit I am a workaholic, which is not always good because I spend a lot of time away from my family and friends. But “without work there is no success”; this is completely clear to me and I want to share this thought with young people. And to answer your question: I think discipline and hard work are essential for both sports and sciences, but so is passion. I love my work and this is why working long hours is easy; otherwise, it would be impossible. Besides, working nowadays is team-work, as it is with many sports. So knowing how to lead and motivate your team is essential in both research and sports. 

The beginning of your work with UPWr dates back to 2001. You came to Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences in 2008 for the first time. After 12 years, you recieved an honorary doctorate from the University. How do you evaluate this time as a scientist and researcher, but also as a friend of the people you work with?

You know the first time I was in Wrocław was September 2001. Do you know what happened at that time? The terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York. I was so shocked because I was taking part in an international conference with many participants from the USA at the time. That experience was shocking but, … I fell in love with the city; Wrocław has been my second home-town ever since. So as soon as I got back to Spain, I decided to write to UPWr about the possibility of working together. And I did it; I wrote a letter and my friend Jadwiga Bolechowska very kindly replied to me, and this is how everything started. Later, we signed the first agreement to exchange students and staff. At the beginning it wasn't easy to convince our students to come to UPWr. But after 3 years everything became easy, because every single student who came to Wrocław also fell in love with your city and University. 

As a scientist and researcher I grew hand in hand with many of my Polish friends. Prof. Adam Figiel was the first one to accept work with our students. I call him my Polish brother, because both of us were born on farms and love the countryside. Then, other friends appeared: Prof. Antoni Szumny, Prof. Małgorzata Korzeniowska, Prof. Agnieszka Kita, and many others (sorry for not including all names but it is impossible). More recently I got to know Prof. Aneta Wojdyło better. She came to a conference in Nitra to see whether she could come to work in our research group. And since then, we have been extremely good friends. Our families have spent a lot of time together. She, together with her husband, son and daughter have visited us several times in San Vicente, and I think they feel home there, surrounded by our families and friends. All these friendships have made working together a true pleasure and our publications are strong and published in the best international journals. We now have double Master and PhD studies, which will enable fluent exchange of students and researchers between our universities. 

Without investing in research our future will be bleak; I hope the COVID-19 pandemic has made world leaders realize how important research is for our future.

To sum up, I really feel that friendship is the key to the success of our collaboration. Seeing how my friends were promoted along the way, and became Full Professors is a fantastic feeling; they deserve these recognitions because they have worked tremendously hard to achieve them. 

Also, having my name as doctor honoris causa on the wall of the main entrance of the university’s main building at Norwida Street is more than a dream. It is something that I could never imagine. But it is a recognition to all of the people who have participated in this history of friendship, hard-work and a way of conducting research among Polish and Spanish colleagues. 

I Love you all, my dear friends.  

Given your participation in so many conferences, how many times have you circled the Earth?

This is a difficult question, I don’t know how many times I have circled the Earth, but I can say that I have been to more than 50 countries. This, for a guy born at a farm between Xixona and Tibi is a great achievement. And, … if I have to be honest, I think that one of things I feel more proud of is being able to say that I have friends around the world. I have worked and have friends in the USA, Mexico, Ecuador, UK, Poland, Slovakia, Italy, Turkey, India, Pakistan, Iran, Japan, etc. This makes me feel very proud of what I have achieved both in my research, and in my life. Last week I was named General Director of Science and Research of the Valencian government and will miss not being able to travel as much as I did before, due to my new responsibilities. 

Are your extraordinary sensory abilities and competence appreciated by your wife, Carol and children, Aaron and Nata? What can you achieve in science with these abilities and what is their significance in your everyday life?

If I have to be honest, in my daily life I try to be a normal consumer, and eat what I like. I try to enjoy food as much as possible. I don't analyse every single thing I eat, because I would go crazy. My son Aarón has very good sensory abilities and this will be essential for him because he is studying Food Science and Technology. He is a very good panellist and is taking his first steps in research and probably his degree thesis will be on establishing an analytical and sensory protocol to authenticate the geographical origin of cinnamon. Both my son and daughter have played with different aromas since they were very young ,and their senses are well trained to identify smells in their surroundings. Also my wife Carol is very sensitive and, for instance, her sense of smell can tell whether a dish has even the smallest quantity of cheese in it, because she hates it. This is also important. A person can be very sensitive because they like something, but it is even better if a panelist hates it, because their body creates a defensive mechanism to identify small quantities of something which might harm you. 

Having sensitive senses is a must, however, I must say that training is essential. You cannot imagine how people improve when they start to play with flavours and essences and you tell them what they are. Training and practice is essential to be able to use your senses as analytical tools in your daily work. I always tell my students, co-workers and cooperating companies that sensory analysis is not better or worse than instrumental analysis, they are just complementary, and both of them are needed.  

What is your dream?

To see my son Aaron and my daughter Natalia happy and do whatever makes them feel alive. I think this is the most important thing for any father and mother. All my dreams are related to the younger generations because they are in a very difficult situation. Competition is tremendous and finding a job is not an easy task for them; although I fully trust them and think they are fully prepared to fight hard for their future. Let’s hope all the best for young people because our future is in their hands. 

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