PhD Scholarship Position in Food Science Within Seaweed Ingredient Production

The Department of Biology and Biological Engineering was founded January 1 2015, and started off with high ambitions. The aim was to grow and become a leading center of innovation by combining the latest research in life sciences with biochemistry. And the department got off to flying start. In its first year, the numbers for publication, citation and external funding have been excellent.

The department consists of four divisions, each conducting outstanding research in the areas of industrial biotechnology, systems biology, chemical biology and food science. The overall goal is to help build a sustainable society and improve human health. Nearly 200 people from 20 countries are currently working at the department. The working environment is characterized by respect, cooperation, responsibility, creativity and job satisfaction. The Department of Biology and Biological Engineering has summarized its mission in four points: - To be an attractive environment for top-level researchers in biological engineering - To deliver top-level research results and innovative solutions for use in a sustainable society - To offer excellent education that develops creative engineers and scientists - To be a major contributor to international visibility of Chalmers Information about the research

Biology and Biological Engineering has four divisions; Food and Nutrition Science, Systems and Synthetic Biology, Industrial Biotechnology and Chemical Biology. A new PhD-student position is now vacant at Food and Nutrition Science. The research at Food and Nutrition science focus on nutritional solutions for disease prevention by studies on the molecular, cellular, and whole-body level. We also center on research that aims to promote high food quality, minimize losses throughout the value chain and to utilize alternative sources for production of nutrients. To this end, projects address e.g. the development of methods for adding value to underutilized marine raw materials, improvement of nutritional and sensory properties in fish, seaweed, cereals, fruits and greens, as well as the link between food processing and technical functionality, bioactivity, digestibility as well as bioavailability of food compounds. We also study the active response to food compounds in human cell models and animal models, and conduct human studies in collaboration with the medical faculty. Food and Nutrition science currently consists of approximately 40 people with varying backgrounds within fields such as chemistry, biology, biotechnology and nutrition.

Major responsibilities

This PhD-project is part of the new collaboration project CirkAlg, funded by Formas. Apart from Chalmers, partners of the project include University of Gothenburg (GU), Hgskolan i Kristianstad (HK), the National Food Agency (NFA) and five industrial partners. Chalmers the division of Food and Nutrition Science is the host of this PhD-position. The overall project aim is to explore seaweed as a food protein source. Attempts will be made at GU to increase the protein content of the seaweed during cultivation, which will be followed by extraction of proteins into a protein ingredient using pH-driven solubilization and isoelectric precipitation technology at Chalmers. The latter will be done within the frames of the PhD-project, and will also comprise evaluation of nutritional and technofunctional properties of the ingredients. Safety issues such as presence of potential heavy metals or excessive iodine levels in seaweed/seaweed ingredients will be evaluated together with NFA, and sensory assessments will be performed in collaboration with HK. It is foreseen that the PhD-project will deliver new types of vegetarian marine protein ingredients to meet the ongoing “protein shift”.

The position generally also includes teaching on Chalmers undergraduate level or performing other duties corresponding to ~10 – 20 per cent of working hours.

Full-time temporary employment.The position is limited to a maximum of 4,5 years.

Qualifications

To qualify as a PhD student, the applicant must hold a Master’s level degree in BioScience, Biochemical Engineering, Biotechnology, Biochemistry, Chemistry or similar. Fluent English in writing and speaking, strong communication and analytical skills are also required. Completed courses on MSc level within Food Science, Analytical chemistry, Biotechnology, Rheology and Process technology are meritorious and/or experience from work with (marine) proteins, protein isolation, nutrient analyses and protein functionality analyses

Due to the multi-disciplinary nature of this PhD project, the applicant should preferably be curious, goal oriented, cooperation minded, and keen on transferring theoretic and applied academic work into practice.

Chalmers offers a cultivating and inspiring working environment in the dynamic city ofGothenburg.

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Application procedure

The application should be marked with Ref 20180741 and written in English.

CV: (Please name the document: CV, Family name, Ref. number)

CV

Other, for example previous employments or leadership qualifications and positions of trust.

Two references that we can contact.

Personal letter: (Please name the document as: Personal letter, Family name, Ref. number)

1-3 pages where you introduce yourself and present your qualifications.

Previous research fields and main research results.

Future goals and research focus.Are there any specific projects and research issues you are primarily interested in?

Copies of bachelor and/or master's thesis.

Attested copies and transcripts of completed education, grades and other certificates, eg. TOEFL test results.

Application deadline: 15 February 2019

Ingrid Undeland, Food and Nutriton Science, undeland@chalmers.se, 031-7723820

Gran Nylund, University of Gothenburg, goran.nylund@marine.gu.se, 031-7869675