doctoral researcher in biochemistry / bioprocessing / food science

Position

Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Helsinki, is seeking for a doctoral researcher in biochemistry / bioprocessing / food science for a fixed-term 2-year contract to work in the Business Finland Co-Innovation project entitled “Valorization of animal-based by-products into bioactive innovations (VALABio)”. The successful candidate will work in Professor Pekka Varmanen’s research group at the Department of Food and Nutrition.

The position will start as soon as possible or as agreed and continue until 30 April 2028, with a possibility for extension.

Project Focus

The VALABio project focuses on transforming low-value animal-based side streams from the dairy and meat industries into high-value bioactive compounds, including functional peptides and extracellular vesicle (EV)-based innovations for food, health, and diagnostic applications.

Requirements

We are looking for a highly motivated doctoral researcher with an MSc degree in biochemistry, bioprocess engineering, food sciences, food chemistry, or a related field.

Duties

• Identify, design, conduct, and report research on bioactive peptide production from dairy and meat side streams using enzymatic hydrolysis; bioactive peptide characterization via mass spectrometry based proteomics and peptidomics and functional bioactivity analyses; and encapsulation strategies for developing stable and functional peptide fractions. The work also includes participation in the development and optimization of scalable bioprocesses for producing these functional peptide fractions.
• Contribute to master’s student supervision and teaching activities in food technology, biochemistry, or bioprocessing.
• Engage with the scientific community, research partners, and the wider public at all levels, both nationally and internationally, through scientific publications, conferences, workshops, and social media (e.g., blogs).
• Contribute to proposal writing to secure additional research funding.