Erich Leitner, PhD

Erich Leitner studied technical chemistry at the Graz University of Technology, Austria where he obtained a PhD in organic trace analysis and habilitation in “Food Chemistry”. Currently he holds a professorship for “Analytics of food and food contact material” His research activities are focused on the identification of volatile, odor active substances and substances of toxicological concern in food and food contact materials. He has over 30 years of experience in organic trace and ultra trace analysis mainly based on gas chromatographic methods. Besides he is a trained sensory expert and member of the expert panel of the TU Graz sensory lab. He is head of the Institute of Analytical Chemistry and Food Chemistry at the Graz University of Technology. In his research, he combines the use of a trained expert panel and highly specific equipment based on gas chromatographic techniques for the identification and quantification of smelly molecules.