Research Interests
Climate and environmental impacts
Wildfire smoke
Vineyard mitigation
Biotic stress
Heat and drought
- Develop analytical methods to quantify known and unknown stress-related chemical markers in grapes and wine
- Evaluate the efficacy of vineyard practices, including barrier spray treatment, to mitigate wildfire smoke impact on grapes and wine
- Characterize how pathogen and pest pressure affect berry secondary metabolism and wine sensory quality
- Investigate how heat, drought, and wildfire stress alter berry ripening physiology and wine quality
Identification of novel flavor-active metabolites
Metabolomics
Sensory-guided discovery
Biosynthesis
Aroma chemistry
- Discover and structurally characterize novel flavor-active compounds using targeted and non-targeted metabolomics and sensory-guided detection
- Elucidate biosynthetic precursors and transformation pathways for key aroma compounds
Regional and varietal flavor characterization
Terroir
Regional signatures
Varietal characterization
- Establish regional volatile signatures and terroir-specific metabolite markers for varietal characterization
Viticultural and enological practices
Postharvest storage
Volatile composition
Sulfur metabolites
Wine aging
- Quantify temporal changes in volatile composition during postharvest storage and processing to optimize aroma expression
Innovative analytical method development
GC-MS/MS
LC-MS/MS
High-resolution mass spectrometry
Sensomics
- Develop and validate high-throughput GC-MS/MS and LC-MS/MS methods for trace-level quantification of flavor and aroma compounds in grapes and wine
- Build non-targeted, high-resolution mass spectrometry workflows to profile unknown volatile and non-volatile metabolites
- Apply sensomics approaches that combine instrumental analysis with sensory evaluation to identify compounds driving perceived flavor
- Design rapid, field-deployable analytical tools to support real-time decision-making in vineyard and winery settings
Wine aging chemistry
Sulfur metabolites
Oxidative aging
Reductive aging
Barrel aging
Quality markers
- Characterize sulfur metabolite dynamics during oxidative and reductive aging to establish quality markers for wine aging
- Investigate how oak barrel composition and toast level shape extractable wood compounds and their contribution to aroma during barrel aging
Meet the Team
Liang Chen, Ph.D.
Dr. Liang Chen (中文：陈亮) is an assistant professor and wine analytical chemist in the UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology. He specializes in GC–MS/MS, LC–MS/MS, high-resolution mass spectrometry, and metabolomics approaches for identifying and quantifying flavor compounds across production variables.
Dr. Gauthier Lagarde
Postdoctoral Scholar
Develop diagnostic tools and discover new biomarkers for wildfire smoke exposure risk assessment.
Ph.D., University of Bordeaux
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Miltiadis Damaskos
Research Associate
Flavor chemistry, analytical chemistry
M.S., Università degli Studi di Udine, Italy
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Emile Roux
Visiting Scholar
L'Institut Agro Dijon, France
Undergraduate, L'Institut Agro Dijon
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Sarina Wang
MS Candidate, '27
Characterization of grape aroma
Department of Viticulture and Enology, UC Davis
Maaike Williams
MS Candidate, '27
Innovative winemaking
Department of Viticulture and Enology, UC Davis
Alumni
Naomi Kampen
MS Graduate, '26
Barrier sprays to mitigate smoke taints in grapes and wine
M.S., Agricultural and Environmental Chemistry, UC Davis
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Analytical Platforms
GC–MS/MS
- Terpenes
- Esters (ethyl and acetate esters)
- Higher alcohols
- Aldehydes and ketones
- Lactones
- Methoxypyrazines
- Volatile phenols
- Sulfur compounds
- Others
LC–MS/MS
- Glycosylated flavor precursors
- Varietal thiols
- Amino acids
- Organic acids
- Oxidation products
LC–HRMS (Orbitrap, Q-TOF)
- Unknown volatile and non-volatile metabolites
- Novel flavor compounds
- Degradation products
- Reaction intermediates
- Glycoconjugates
- Oxidation products
