Identifying high value compounds during a yeast fermentation of food waste

About the Project

You will work on yeast strain development for use as a fortified strain in the fermentation industry with potential as a standalone product. Alongside, the post holder will look at identifying high value metabolites produced by the yeast during the fermentations. Furthermore, you will test the feasibility of upcycling vegetable loss to formulate a growth media for the microorganisms, lowering production costs and promoting circular economy. This will involve integrating microbial fermentation optimization and will build into an advanced artificial intelligence database which is currently one of the core missions within the School of Food Science at Leeds. These techniques will aim to give mechanistic and structural information on the complexity of microbial biomass, translational science through valorisation into high value compounds and to gain a greater understanding of the relationship between food waste and microbial fermentations.

• Designing, planning and conducting a programme of investigation on optimizing fermentation of vegetable and fruit sidestreams principally with yeast. Investigate the fermentation profiles of different yeast species when fermenting a wide variety of fruit, vegetable and other biomass after hydrolysis and determine the cellular functionalty in the system of the microbes. Bacterial fermentations will also be pursued.
• Determining the changes in yeast during a fermentation using analytical tools such as ICP-OES, XRF, and NMR and correlating with production of desirable metabolites via HPLC and GC/MS.
• Seeking opportunities to develop yeast products from a fermentation of vegetable and fruit sidestreams in collaboration with relevant commercial stakeholders to accelerate commercialization of the scientific discovery;
• Generating independent and original research ideas and methods during the fermentations and explore biomass processing, yeast phenotyping and metabolic screening.
• Developing research objectives and proposals and contributing to setting the direction of the research project and team including preparing proposals for funding in collaboration with colleagues;
• Preparing papers for publication in leading international journals and disseminating research results through recognised national and internal conferences and other industrial events;
• Working both independently and also as part of a larger team of researchers, engaging in knowledge-transfer activities where appropriate and feasible;
• Maintaining your own continuing professional development and acting as a mentor to less experienced colleagues as appropriate.

Funding Notes

This is not a funded project, but you can apply for funding separately. Self-funding students are also welcome to apply.

For more information please visit the institution website.