Professor Dr. Milen Georgiev

Position: Head of Department of Plant Cell Biotechnology, CPSBB

Prof. Dr. Milen I. Georgiev heads the Laboratory of Metabolomics at the Institute of Microbiology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS). He also serves as head of the Plant Cell Biotechnology Department at the Center of Plant Systems Biology and Biotechnology (CPSBB) in Plovdiv. With over 20 years of experience in the field of natural products, he has published more than 200 scientific papers in prestigious peer-reviewed journals, including Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, Molecular Plant, Genome Biology, Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, and Plant Biotechnology Journal, among others. Throughout his career, he has delivered over 85 invited lectures across 35 countries.

His current research focuses on three primary areas: 1) Biosynthesis of fine molecules and the development of biotechnological tools for their sustainable mass production, 2) Metabolomics and comprehensive metabolite profiling and 3) Molecular pharmacology, with a particular emphasis on longevity, obesity, and skin photoaging.

Milen is a four-time recipient of the prestigious Pythagoras Award for outstanding scientist, awarded by the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science (2011, 2015, 2020, and 2024), making him the only scientist in Bulgaria to win this honor four times. Since 2020, he has been consistently ranked among the top 2% of the world’s most-cited scientists across all scientific disciplines.

He actively serves as an Editor, Associate Editor, or Editorial Board member for 20 international journals in biotechnology and natural products, such as Phytomedicine, Phytochemistry, Phytochemistry Reviews, Environmental Science and Ecotechnology, Biotechnology Letters, and Food Frontiers. As Chairman, he founded the International Conference on Natural Products Utilization: from Plants to Pharmacy Shelf (ICNPU), which successfully concluded its 6th edition in 2025 (www.icnpu2025.com).

Milen is a member of the Management Board of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and serves on the Advisory Boards of several universities, research institutes, and EU-funded international projects.

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SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

• Efferth T., Zacchino S., Georgiev M.I., He R.R., Shen X., Albrecht U., Belwal T., Bhutia S.K., Chatterjee M., Chen J., Chen Z.Y., Cho W., Devi S.I., Eid A.H., Orhan I.E., Gao Y., Hosseinzadeh H., Hua Q., Khan H.,…Yücer R. (2025)

  • 30^th Anniversary of Phytomedicine: Looking Back and Forth. Phytomedicine. 149: 157525. (IF 8.3)

• Jahan T., Huda M.N., Zhang K., He Y., Lai D., Dhami N., Quinet M., Ali M.A., Kreft I., Woo SH., Georgiev M.I., Fernie A.R., Zhou M. (2025)
  • Plant secondary metabolites against biotic stresses for sustainable crop protection. Biotechnology Advances. 79: 108520. (IF 12.5)

• Rojo A.I., Buttari B., Cadenas S., Carlos A.R., Cuadrado A., Falcão A.S., López M.G., Georgiev M.I., Grochot-Przeczek A., Gumeni S., Jimenez-Villegas J., Horbanczuk J.O., Konu O., Lastres-Becker I., Levonen A.L., Maksimova V., Michaeloudes C., Mihaylova L.V., Mickael M.E., Milisav I., Miova B., Rada P., Santos M., Seabra M.C., Strac D.S., Tenreiro S., Trougakos I.P., Dinkova-Kostova A.T. (2025)
  • Model organisms for investigating the functional involvement of NRF2 in non-communicable diseases. Redox Biology. 79: 103464. (IF 11.9)

• Stoykova I.D., Koycheva I.K., Binev B.K., Mihaylova L.V., Georgiev M.I. (2025)
  • Molecular approaches to prevent UV-induced premature skin aging: Focus on phytochemicals as photo-protectants. Phytochemistry Reviews. 24(1): 119–150. (IF 7.6)

• Wang S., Zhang X., Gong D.H., Huang Q.Q., Kandegama W., Georgiev M.I., Gao Y.Y., Liao P., Hao G.F. (2025)
  • Sophisticated crosstalk of tryptophan-derived metabolites in plant stress responses. Plant Communications. 6(9): 101425. (IF 11.6)

• Huang X., He Y., Zhang K., Shi Y., Zhao H., Lai D., Lin H., Wang X., Yang Z., Xiao Y., Li W., Ouyang Y., Woo S.H., Quinet M., Georgiev M.I., Fernie A.R., Liu X., Zhou M. (2024)
  • Evolution and domestication of a novel biosynthetic gene cluster contributing to the flavonoid metabolism and high-altitude adaptability of plants in the Fagopyrum genus. Advanced Science. 11(43): e2403603. (IF 14.1)

• Todorova M.N., Savova M.S., Mihaylova L.V., Georgiev M.I. (2024)
  • Punica granatum L. leaf extract enhances stress tolerance and promotes healthy longevity through HLH-30/TFEB, DAF16/FOXO, and SKN1/NRF2 crosstalk in Caenorhabditis elegans. Phytomedicine. 134: 155971. (IF 8.3)

• Lai D., Zhang K., He Y., Fan Y., Li W., Shi Y., Gao Y., Huang X., He J., Zhao H., Lu X., Xiao Y., Cheng J., Ruan J., Georgiev M.I., Fernie A., Zhou M. (2023)
  • Multi-omics identification of a key glycosyl hydrolase gene FtGH1 involved in rutin hydrolysis in Tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum). Plant Biotechnology Journal. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/pbi.14259. (IF 13.8)

• Atanasov A.G., Zotchev S.B., Dirsch V.M., Orhan I.E., Banach M., Rollinger J.M., Barreca D., Weckwerth W., Bauer R., Bayer E.A., Majeed M., Bishayee A., Bochkov V., Bonn G.K., Braidy N., Bucar F., Cifuentes A., D’Onofrio G., Bodkin M., Diederich M., Dinkova-Kostova A.T., Efferth T., El Bairi K., Arkells N., Fan T-P., Fiebich B.L., Freissmuth M., Georgiev M.I. et al. (2021)
  • Natural products in drug discovery: advances and opportunities. Nature Reviews in Drug Discovery. 20: 200-216. (IF 112.288)

• Ding M., Zhang K., He Y., Zuo Q., Zhao H., He M., Georgiev M.I., Park S.U., Zhou M. (2021)
  • FtBPM3 modulates the orchestration of FtMYB11-mediated flavonoids biosynthesis in Tartary buckwheat. Plant Biotechnology Journal. 19(7): 1285-1287. (IF 13.263)

• Savova M.S., Vasileva L.V., Mladenova S.G., Amirova K.M., Ferrante C., Orlando G., Wabitsch M., Georgiev M.I. (2021)
  • Ziziphus jujuba Mill. leaf extract restrains adipogenesis by targeting PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. Biomedicine and Pharmacotherapy. 141: 111934. (IF 7.419)

• Shi M., Liao P., Nile S.H., Georgiev M.I., Kai G. (2021)
  • Biotechnological exploration of transformed root culture for value-added products. Trends in Biotechnology. 39(2): 137-149. (IF 21.942)

• Vasileva L.V., Savova M.S., Tews D., Wabitsch M., Georgiev M.I. (2021)
  • Rosmarinic acid attenuates obesity and obesity-related inflammation in human adipocytes. Food and Chemical Toxicology. 149: 112202. (IF 5.572)