Rate My Professor Sze Leong

Dr. Sze Ying Leong is an Assistant Research Fellow in the Department of Food Science at the University of Otago. Originally from Malaysia, she moved to New Zealand in 2008 to complete a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in Food Science at the University of Otago, graduating with first-class honours. During her undergraduate studies, she was awarded the New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology (NZIFST) Prize, the Otago Medical Research Foundation (OMRF) Food Technology Summer Scholarship, the J Cowie Nichols Prize in Food Science, and the Bee Nilson Scholarships in Human Nutrition and Food Science. She obtained her PhD in Food Science from the University of Otago in 2016, with a thesis on the feasibility of using Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) processing to increase phytochemicals in plants including wine grapes, cherries, carrots, and wheatgrass shoots, supervised by Professor Indrawati Oey and Dr. David Burritt. After her PhD, Leong worked at the Max Rubner-Institut in Karlsruhe, Germany, on food metabolomics analysis using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC×GC-MS), supported by a one-year research grant from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). She rejoined the University of Otago in March 2017 as a postdoctoral researcher and now holds the position of Assistant Research Fellow, contributing to the FIET and Riddet projects.

Leong's research specializations center on food processing technologies, particularly non-thermal methods such as Pulsed Electric Fields (PEF) and High Hydrostatic Pressure (HHP), and their effects on food quality and plant microstructures. Her academic interests also include bioactive metabolites and their health-promoting functionalities, postharvest quality, oxidative stress and redox biology, and food metabolomics analyses. She investigates how post-harvest and processing strategies can manipulate the quality and metabolite profiles of plant-based foods. Notable publications include 'The relationship between the anthocyanin and vitamin C contents of red-fleshed sweet cherries and the ability of fruit digests to reduce hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative stress in Caco-2 cells' (Food Chemistry, 2017), 'Effect of combining pulsed electric fields with maceration time on Merlot grapes in protecting Caco-2 cells from oxidative stress' (Food & Bioprocess Technology, 2016), 'Electropriming of wheatgrass seeds using pulsed electric fields enhances antioxidant metabolism and the bioprotective capacity of wheatgrass shoots' (Scientific Reports, 2016), 'Pulsed electric field improves the bioprotective capacity of purées for different coloured carrot cultivars against H2O2-induced oxidative damage' (Food Chemistry, 2016), and 'Feasibility of using pulsed electric field processing to inactivate enzymes and reduce the cutting force of carrot (Daucus carota var. Nantes)' (Innovative Food Science & Emerging Technologies, 2014). Recent contributions cover non-thermal processing opportunities, texture perceptions in legume-enriched foods, and pulsed electric fields applications.