Principal Investigator
Professor Anwesha Sarkar
Anwesha Sarkar (A.Sarkar@leeds.ac.uk) is Professor of Colloids and Surfaces at the University of Leeds, UK. Her international research trajectory spans from academic institutions to industries in India, New Zealand, Switzerland and United Kingdom.
Prof. Sarkar received her BTech (Dairy Engineering) and MS (Food Technology) from India. Then she did PhD in Food Technology from Massey University, New Zealand (2010) in colloidal aspects of lipid digestion and worked for 4 years in Nestle Research (Lausanne) and Nestle Global Headquarters (Vevey) in Switzerland before joining University of Leeds. Prof. Sarkar is the PI of the prestigious ERC (European Research Council) Starting Grant funded Project LUBSAT (2017-22) to discover oral lubrication mechanisms and its effects on oro-sensory satiety, PI of ERC Proof of Concept (PoC) Project AQUALUB (2020-23) to develop salivary substitutes with optimal oral lubrication properties and ERC PoC (UKRI Horizon Guarantee Fund) Project MICROLUB to develop microgel-based fat replacers. She is also the Theme Lead in the EPSRC-CDT (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council-Centre for Doctoral Training) in 'Molecules to Product' (2019-27) and a key academic supervisor in EPSRC-CDT in 'Soft Matter for Formulation and Industrial Innovation' (2019-28). Prof. Sarkar was the Conference Chair of the 17th Food Colloids Conference (2018), the reputed biennial conference in the field of physical chemistry of complex foods at Leeds, UK and has served as Guest Editors for Advances in Colloid and Interface Science as well as Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects. She is the editorial board member of journals, Food Hydrocolloids, Food Hydrcolloids for Health, Biotribology, Tribology Letters, Food Structure, and Journal of Texture Studies. Prof. Sarkar has been recognized by the Women of Achievement Roll of Honour 2018 at University of Leeds for her recent contributions to the field of colloid science and oral processing. She is the winner of the prestigious Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Food Group Junior Medal 2019 as a result of her research in designing novel food structures with targeted oral lubrication performance. Previously she was awarded Elsevier Young Scientist Award (2009) and Nestle Discovery award (2011) for her scientific researches. To date, Prof. Sarkar has published +100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and is the co-inventor of 7 patents and and she is regularly invited for giving keynote lectures at national and international conferences in food, oral therapies and allied soft matter areas.
Current Team Members
Daisy Akgönüllü
PhD Student, fs17da@leeds.ac.uk
I am a PhD student funded by the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Soft Matter for Formulation and Industrial Innovation (SOFI2) CDT and PepsiCo. I am researching the behaviour of biopolymeric microgels in emulsions both within the bulk continuous phase and at the interface; with the aim to gain fundamental understanding of how the nanomechanical properties and ordering of the microgels may influence their ability to act as Pickering stabilisers.
Dr. Andrea Araiza Calahorra
Postdoctoral Fellow, A.AraizaCalahorra@leeds.ac.uk
I recently graduated from University of Leeds, UK with a PhD in Food Colloids Science, where I developed Pickering emulsions-based encapsulation systems to improve the bioaccessibility of lipophilic compounds after in vitro digestion and delivery to cells. I am re-joining Sarkar's Lab but now as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow as part of the Eat4Age international project funded by the Joint Programming Initiative - A Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life (JPI HDHL). As part of the project, I aim to establish oral lubrication and upper gastrointestinal tract disintegration mechanisms of food matrices to develop tasty, nutritious and easily digestible meals for older adults to help prevent malnutrition and loss of muscle mass among elderly people.
Frances Brown
PhD Student,
fsfnb@leeds.ac.uk
The aim of my PhD is to create fundamental understanding of protein-saliva interactions during oral processing using various physiochemical and mechanical approaches. Specifically, as a part of this Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)-Mondelez PhD Project, I will be looking at how these interactions may subsequently affect mouthfeel.
Dr. Mohd Khalid Gul
Visiting Researcher, M.K.Gul@leeds.ac.uk . I am a full-time Assistant Professor in the Department of Food Process Engineering at the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Rourkela, India. I joined Sarkar Lab at the University of Leeds under an International Research Experience Fellowship funded by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Government of India. At Leeds, I aim to develop biocomptaible microgels with enhanced lubrication properties for oral therapeutic applications.
Bianca Hazt
PhD student, mmbh@leeds.ac.uk I am a PhD student funded by the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Soft Matter for Formulation and Industrial Innovation (SOFI2) and Reckitt Benckiser. My research focuses on understanding the mucoadhesive behaviour of microgels and their drug-release performance, considering different biomimetic environments using a combination of experimental and modelling approaches.
Gloria Hernandez Rodriguez
PhD student, School of Chemical and Process Engineering fs19gshr@leeds.ac.uk I am a part of the CDT Molecules to Product, which is funded by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). My PhD project focuses on understanding the physical phenomenon that regulates the demulsification of microgel-stabilized Pickering emulsions on demand to design next generation stimuli-responsive droplets for controlled release of active materials for food, pharmaceutical, personal care and allied soft matter applications.
Megan Holdstock
PhD Student,lfsmho@leeds.ac.uk
I am a PhD student funded by the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Soft Matter for Formulation and Industrial Innovation (SOFI2) CDT and Nestle. My project is looking at the dispersion of protein particle fillers in non-aqueous media, specifically for chocolate applications. I am looking to gain an understanding of the interaction between the particles and also how this affects various materials properties.
Dr. Hasan Hüseyin Kara
Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow, H.H.Kara@leeds.ac.uk . I am a full-time Associate Professor in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Necmettin Erbakan University, a state university in Turkey. I came to Sarkar Lab at University of Leeds under the TUBITAK 2019 (Science Fellowships) postdoc research program for 1 year. The aim of my work at Leeds is to create fundamental understanding on physicochemical, microstructural and tribological properties of oleosomes.
Ben Kew
PhD Student,
ll14bk@leeds.ac.uk
My PhD focuses on understanding the lubrication mechanisms in proteins and protein-based complexes. As a part of European Research Council (ERC) Project: Lubsat, I aim to study the tribological properties and sensory perception of such complexes with an ultimate goal to identify bottom up principles for designing no-/ low-fat foods with optimum mouthfeel.
Amna Khatun
PhD Student, School of Chemical and Process Engineering
pmakh@leeds.ac.uk
I am part of the Molecules to Product programme Centre of Doctoral Training (CDT) funded by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). My PhD focuses on understanding and evaluating the biodegradation fate of engineered polymeric microparticles that enters through various channels into the natural environment.
Yao Lu
Visiting PhD Student,
y.lu4@leeds.ac.uk
I am a PhD student in the College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering at China Agricultural University, Beijing, China and a visiting researcher at the University of Leeds for a year funded by CSC Chinese Scholarship. My research focuses on designing innovative gel structure and understanding their tribological properties. I want to establish the relationship between the structure of gel and its multi-scale oral lubrication behaviour to provide mechanistic framework for designing foods with specific lubricating properties.
Jennifer A. McLauchlan
PhD Student,
mmjam@leeds.ac.uk I am a PhD student funded by the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training for Formulation and Industrial Innovation (SOFI2 CDT). My PhD project in Leeds is in collaboration with Oatly to design sustainable plant-based microgels. This involves using a combination of experimental techniques and coarse grain modelling to determine structure-property relationships.
Sowmya Narsipur
PhD student, School of Chemical and Process Engineering pmsna@leeds.ac.uk I am part of the Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Molecules to Product, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), and based at the School of Chemical and Process Engineering at the University of Leeds. My PhD is about understanding and improving the functional and sensorial performance of single-cell proteins from microbial biomass as sustainable protein alternatives for use in vegan and functional foods.
Nisufyan Nimaming
PhD Student,
ml20n2n@leeds.ac.uk
My PhD research focuses on emulsion stabilisation by Pickering particles. The aim of this project is to investigate the characteristics and properties of Pickering emulsion stabilized by biodegradable particles for controlled delivery of bioactive compounds.
Supatchayaporn Nitsuwat
PhD Student,
fssn@leeds.ac.uk
As part of my PhD, I aim to understand the impact of the different aspects of oral processing on the nutrient intake in older adults and address their nutritional needs through foods that conform with their oral processing capability.
Mary Okeudo-Cogan
PhD student, School of Chemical and Process Engineering fs18mco@leeds.ac.uk I am a part of the CDT Molecules to Product, which is funded by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). My research aims to characterize interactions between proteins and fibrils in composite gels at multiple length scales. I am focusing on understanding the microstructure, rheological and nano-mechanical properties of composite gels and I am to develop mesoscopic models that will aid the understanding of interactions and charge distribution in these gel.
Dr. Olivia Pabois
Postdoctoral Fellow,
O.Pabois@leeds.ac.uk Recently graduated from King’s College London, UK with a PhD in Chemistry, I joined Sarkar Lab as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, with an European Research Council (ERC) Proof-of-Concept Project AquaLub. Specialised in the field of colloid and interface science applied to food, I have a robust experience with using neutron and X-ray scattering techniques, which I acquired during my PhD carried out in collaboration with the Institut Laue-Langevin - the world’s flagship centre for neutron science. As part of my postdoctoral work, I aim to design new aqueous lubricant formulations and test their technical and commercial feasibility, in addition to bringing a detailed, fundamental mechanistic understanding of the processes occurring in the complex human oral mucosa.
Cristhian Rafael Lopes
Visiting PhD Student,
C.R.LopesFrancisco@leeds.ac.uk
I am a PhD candidate in the School of Food Engineering of University of Campinas and a visiting researcher at the University of Leeds for a year funded by FAPESP, Brazil. My visiting research at Sarkar Lab will investigate the conjugation of proanthocyanidins with plant proteins and the production of microgelled conjugates as a novel approach to attenuate the astringency perception of the phenolic compounds.
Dr Siavash Soltanahmadi
Postdoctoral Fellow, S.Soltanahmadi@leeds.ac.uk. I completed my PhD in Mechnica Engineering at University of Leeds on the tribological investigation of surface fatigue encountered in roller element bearings. I am experienced in tribology of steel, soft elastomeric and hard-carbon coated surfaces. In my postdoctoral project (European Research Council, ERC Project: LubSat) at University of Leeds, I aim to develop novel methods to study the lubrication properties of bio-relevant fluids and surfaces. The project outcomes will contribute to the mechanistic understanding of the lubrication behaviour of human oral mucosa.
Elizabeth Tenorio
PhD Student,
fsetg@leeds.ac.uk
My PhD project focusses on designing double emulsions stabilized by food grade particles. One of the primary purposes is to engineer low-fat foods to address global obesity challenges. As these food colloidal structures have to render similar characteristics to full-fat ones, tribological studies will be carried out to characterise and compare mouthfeel sensations using biomimetic oral set ups.
Jun Yang
Visiting PhD Student,
J.Yang10@leeds.ac.uk
I am a PhD student in the College of Food Science and Engineering at Nanchang University (Nanchang, China), and I am spending a year at the University of Leeds as a visiting researcher funded by the China Scholarship Council (CSC). My research in Leeds is focused on the stabilization mechanism of Pickering emulsions and interfacial properties of shape-controllable biopolymeric nanoparticles.
Kwan Mo You
PhD Student,
fs1kmy@leeds.ac.uk
In my PhD project, my aim is to investigate the rheological and tribological properties of biopolymers. In particular, I am working on European Research Council (ERC) Project: Lubsat, where I am specifically focussing on complex hydrogels that can enhance lubrication properties without any fat addition.