About myself

After my school days in Franconia, I studied food chemistry in Karlsruhe. During my studies at KIT, I discovered my interest in the food development and production and its functional components. Therefore, I completed my master thesis at the Institute of Food Process Engineering and investigated the relationship between extraction conditions, molecular structure and emulsification properties of different pectins.

After my studies, I completed a training at the Chemical and Veterinary Investigation Office (CVUA) in Karlsruhe. During this year, my work was focused primarily on the analytical examination and legal assessment of food products.

September 2022, I started my doctoral studies as part of my work as a scientific researcher in the research area of melt emulsions.

Research focus

Proteins are an important part of the human diet because of their vital functions in the body, such as in the immune system, as enzymes and hormones, or as tissue building blocks in muscles.

Animal-derived food is an important source of protein, as it is easily digestible by our bodies. For environmental reasons and climate protection, along with concerns for animal welfare, there is an ever-increasing demand for alternative protein sources. Plant-based food plays an important role, but insects and microorganisms like algae and yeasts can be used as alternative protein sources as well.

Currently I am working on the question of how the raw material yeast can be used as a protein source for vegetarian and vegan substitute products and how different production techniques or process parameters influence the product properties.

Methods

The products manufactured are both extruded and emulsified foods. Different equiments are used for this purpose: Extrusion tests are mainly performed on a co-rotating twin screw extruder. For emulsification, common apparatus such as rotor-stator systems or high-pressure homogenizers are used.

Tribological and rheological analysis methods are used in the characterization of extruded foods. The stability of emulsions can be studied by measuring interfacial tension, interfacial rheology and droplet size distribution.