This annual award recognizes outstanding research work in the areas of agrochemicals and food chemistry. Learn more about this year's awardees and read their winning research articles.

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The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (JAFC) and the ACS Divisions of Agrochemicals (AGRO) and Agricultural and Food Chemistry (AGFD) are delighted to announce the winners of the 2026 Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry Research Article of the Year Award. Launched in 2013, this award annually recognizes outstanding research work in the areas of food chemistry and agrochemicals.

We are excited to announce the 2026 winning papers and the authors who are accepting the awards on behalf of their teams:

Congratulations to this year’s award recipients, who were selected from around 80 nominated articles! The awards will be presented at ACS Fall 2026. Each award winner receives an honorarium, a plaque, and travel expenses to attend the ACS National Meeting to present their research.

Jump to Section:
- Winning Article: AGRO Division Research Article of the Year Award
- Interview: Dr. Taicia Fill, AGRO Division Research Article of the Year Award
- Winning Article: AGFD Division Research Article of the Year Award
- Interview: Dr. Antonio González-Sarrías, AGFD Division Research Article of the Year Award
- Learn About Last Year's Winners
- Information About Nominations and Winner Selections

Winning Article: AGRO Division Research Article of the Year Award

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry Journal Cover
Read the Full Article

Decoding the Penicillium italicum–Citrus Interaction: Untargeted Metabolomics Sheds Light on a Neglected Postharvest Pathogen

Evandro Silva, Aline Midori Kanashiro, José Rodrigo Ferreira Maciel, Rodolfo Dantas Lima Junior, Maria Antonia Fraga Botelho, Alana Kelyene Pereira, Stephanie Nemesio da Silva, Jonas Henrique Costa, João Guilherme de Moraes Pontes, Amanda Ferreira da Silva, Igor Dias Jurberg, Roberto G. S. Berlinck*, and Taicia Pacheco Fill*
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.5c07618


Global citrus production and quality are impacted by the major postharvest pathogen Penicillium italicum which causes citrus blue mold. This article reports the use of untargeted metabolomics to investigate the chemical exchanges occurring during infection of citrus fruits by Penicillium italicum. By mapping these metabolic changes, the study provides new insight into the pathogen’s behavior and potential intervention points, helping improve strategies to reduce spoilage in the citrus supply chain.

Accepting the AGRO Division Research Article of the Year Award on behalf of all co-authors: Dr. Taicia Fill

A headshot of Dr. Taicia Fill
Dr. Taicia Fill, University of Campinas, Brazil

Dr. Fill is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Chemistry (IQ) of the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and coordinates the Laboratory of Microbial Chemical Biology. She holds a B.Sc. in Chemistry (2006), as well as an M.Sc. (2009) and a Ph.D. (2014) in Organic Chemistry from the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), including a sandwich period at the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Prof. Peter Leadlay.

In 2019, she was the winner in the Chemical Sciences category of the For Women in Science Award granted by L’Oréal–UNESCO–ABC. In 2022, she was elected an Affiliate Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (2022–2025), and in 2025 she received the Otto Gottlieb Award 2025 in the Young Researcher category. She served as elected treasurer of the Campinas regional section of the Brazilian Chemical Society (SBQ) (2019–2021) and as secretary of the SBQ Campinas regional section (2022–2023). She was also secretary of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Brazilian Chapter (2019–2021).

She is currently the coordinator of the Women’s Committee from the Brazilian Society of Chemistry (2024–2026), a member of the Women’s Committee of the Chemistry Institute of UNICAMP, and vice head of the Department of Organic Chemistry at UNICAMP. Her research expertise lies in Natural Products Chemistry, with a focus on chemical ecology, pathogen–host interactions, discovery of antimicrobial compounds, and the biosynthesis of fungal secondary metabolites.

Winning Article: AGFD Division Research Article of the Year Award


The (poly)phenol-rich Mediterranean diet is associated with neuroprotective effects, but these effects likely depend on whether circulating phenolic metabolites can access the brain. This study investigates the pharmacokinetics and brain distribution of such metabolites in rats after consuming a Mediterranean-inspired (poly)phenol-rich extract at human equivalent doses, confirming their presence in both plasma and brain tissue, including perfused brains. It validates, using a human blood–brain barrier cell model, that these metabolites can cross the barrier, more efficiently when present as physiologically relevant mixtures, indicating that circulating phenolic metabolites derived from Mediterranean foods may contribute to neuroprotection.

Accepting the AGFD Division Research Article of the Year Award on behalf of all co-authors: Dr. Antonio González-Sarrías

A headshot of Dr. Antonio González-Sarrías
Dr. Antonio González-Sarrías, CEBAS-CSIC, Spain

Dr. González-Sarrías is a Research Scientist at CEBAS-CSIC (Murcia, Spain). He is a biologist with a PhD with honors (2009) and received the HEFAME Foundation National Prize for the best PhD on ‘Functional Foods and Health’. His scientific career has focused on evaluating the anti-carcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, cardioprotective, and neuroprotective activities of different dietary polyphenols and their in vivo metabolites under physiological conditions in both preclinical (cell and animal models) and clinical studies. His research evaluates whether polyphenols contribute, at least in part, to the correlation between the consumption of diets rich in fruits and vegetables with a lower incidence of chronic diseases. The impact of his research led to his recognition as a highly cited researcher in 2020 and 2021 (Clarivate, Web of Science).

Learn About Last Year's Winners

Information About Nominations and Winner Selections

Nominations for these awards may be made by AGRO Division members, AGFD Division members, and members of the Editorial Board and Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Nominations can be sent to the Managing Editor of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry with a short statement of justification, and close on January 31. To be eligible, articles must have been published in an issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry in the calendar year directly preceding the award. Self-nominations are not eligible, nor are papers authored by Editors of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Selection of the winners is made by Award Committees consisting of the journal Editor-in-Chief, two journal Associate Editors, the Division Chair, and 1-2 additional representatives from the Divisions. The Award Committee members select the winners based on criteria such as the impact of the work, its potential to shape future research, the elegance of the experimental design, and the interest to the Divisions’ memberships and journal readership.

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