I joined as a Lecturer in Food Colloids in September 2014. Prior to this, I was working in Nestle Research Centre & Innovations for 4 years at Switzerland. My current research areas of interest include:
Edible delivery systems: to apply structural design approaches to develop new delivery systems (gels, particles, emulsions and encapsulation based systems) to protect and release bioactive compounds
Food oral processing: to understand the mechanisms and governing principles of food oral breakdown in relation to physical properties of foods, e.g. changing properties of food particles on exposure to saliva, interaction with mucin, oral transportation, bolus formation and the critical criteria of bolus swallowing. Currently, I am collaborating with EU academic and industrial partners on an EU FP7 KBBE Funded Project to develop this interdisciplinary area of research to assess the eating capability and food texture design aiming for food provision for elderly
Food structure and lipid digestion: to reveal fundamental mechanisms and kinetics of breakdown of emulsions and emulsion gels during gastrointestinal digestion, interaction with physiological metabolites and fluid flow, to investigate how to tailor the material and microstructural properties of food structure to modulate lipid digestion in order to develop novel strategies for fat reduction, promoting satiety etc.
I am interested in understanding the mechanical organization and functionality of the cell interface, as a way to create functional colloids whose interface is mechanically stable, self-healing, malleable and responsive to environmental factors. My recent research has been focused on creating composite lipogel interfaces that mimic the confinement of the cell membrane to the active gel- like cytoskeleton. The main tools used in my lab are optical microscopy for characterization, microfluidics for creating and testing the biomimetic systems, and mechanical and electric micromanipulation tools.
Responsive Web Design powered by 