Dr. Ben Kew presents at the SoftComp Meeting at Lyon, France

Dr Ben Kew (Postdoctoral Research Fellow, SusProFood Project) was awarded for a second year a fully funded place to present his work through BRAGG and Softcomp EUSMI funding. Around 120 participants attended Softcomp meeting 2024 hosted in Lyon, France. EUSMI is a consortium comprising European facilities for research on soft matter. Its goal is to provide European soft-matter researchers, both in academia and industry, with open-access infrastructure. This platform supports and extends their research activities, covering synthesis, characterisation, and modelling. Ben attended the event as part of the Leeds group, including, Prof Paul Beales (School of Chemistry), Niamh O'Donoghue (Mathematics), Lydia Dawkins (Chemical Engineering) and Yoni Atma (Food Science and Nutrition). This year, he talked about fundamentals of sustainable plant microgels to include applications, marking his second presentation at Softcomp. His talk was titled "Food-grade microgels: from fat replacers and improved sustianable foods to artificial saliva in pharmaceuticals".

Related papers can be found here:

1. Kew B, Holmes, M, Liamas E, Ettelaie R, Connell S, Dini D, Sarkar A. (2023).Transforming sustainable plant proteins into high performance lubricating microgels. Nature Communications, 15, Art No. 4743 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-40414-7
2. Pabois O, Avila-Sierra A, Ramaioli M, Mu M, Message Y, You KM, Liamas E, Kew B, Durga K, Doherty L, Sarkar A. (2023). Benchmarking of a microgel-reinforced hydrogel-based aqueous lubricant against commercial saliva substitutes. Scientific Reports, 13, Art 19833 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-46108-w
3. Kew B, Holmes M, Stieger M, Sarkar A. 2020. Review on fat replacement using protein-based microparticulated powders or microgels: a textural perspective. Trends in Food Science and Technology, Volume 106, pp. 457-468 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2020.10.032