Centre for Advanced Food Enginomics

Interdisciplinarity and open innovation have worked to transform food engineering into a substantive and productive engine in the wider food economy and industry. 

Enginomics integrates the human internal digestion and holistic health focus of certain bio-disciplines with the food processing and production focus of translational engineering.

This is all done within the context of sustainable and socially responsible model that encompasses general human health and environmental sensitivity.

Enginomics integrates:

• food processing
• health and wellness
• food and product engineering
• consumer safety and personalised food
• security and sustainability in food chain
• human digestion system.

• Conduct transformational research with commercial value for the Australian agri-food sector.
• Solve ambitious and large-scale problems in food and health to achieve maximum positive impact.
• Create customised healthy and wholesome processed foods in conjunction with industry to ensure maximum impact.
• Use underutilised agriculture crops to create new products.
• Nurture the shift from the 20^th century to the 21^st century:
  • change the food manufacturing drivers – taste, profit and safety – to  health, environment, visibility and sustainability
  • educate engineers and scientists to be entrepreneurs
  • develop safe and nutritional foods to reduce the prevalence of lifestyle diseases. 
    

• Professor Fariba Dehghani

Food for health and food-omics

• Professor David Raubenheimer
• Associate Professor Andrew Holmes
• Dr Mark Read
• Dr Peter Valtchev

Future food processing researchers

• Professor Timothy Langrish
• Associate Professor John Kavanagh
• Dr Dale McClure

Supply chain innovation

• Professor PJ Cullen
• Professor Robyn McConchie
• Dr Sina Naficy

• Professor Duncan Ivison (University of Sydney)
• Professor Susan Pond (University of Sydney)
• Professor Kim Rasmussen (University of Sydney)
• Professor Dianne Wiley (University of Sydney)
• Ashley Brinson (University of Sydney)

• Professor Jennie Brand-Miller (University of Sydney)
• Professor Paul Singh (University of California Davis, USA)
• Professor Liping Zhao (Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China)
• Associate Professor Eric Knight (University of Sydney)
• Dr Alfredo Martinez-Coll (MTPConnect)
• Dr Barry McGookin (Food Innovation Australia Ltd)
• Dr Justine Stehn (Soho Flordis International)
• David Coleman (Gravity Solutions Global)
• Andrea Koch (Andrea Koch Agtech Pty Ltd)
• Hubert Regtop (Agricure Pty Ltd)

CAFE currently has several opportunities available for talented PhD students wanting to undertake research with us.

Research Scholarship in Engineering Processable - Tough Hydrogels

This scholarship aims to support a PhD student undertaking research in designing a tough and versatile hydrogel with self-healing properties. Deadline closes 20 July 2020.

Applications are now open

Advanced Food Enginomics Research Scholarship

This Australian Research Council funded research project on sensors for smart food packaging is open to two PhD students. Funded scholarships are available in two areas:

• Project A: Sensor Design for Food Safety, Quality and Traceability
• Project B: Food Sensors Integrated in the Internet of Things

Applications for both are now open

Development of Small Recombinant Biopharmaceuticals Research Scholarship

This scholarship aims to provide financial assistance to a PhD student who will undertake research of small recombinant biopharmaceuticals.

Applications are now open

Postgraduate Research Scholarship in Computational Modelling

This scholarship aims to provide financial support to a PhD student student undertaking research in computational modelling.

Applications are now open

• February 2020: Lunchtime seminar with the Riddet Institute, Massey University: Distinguished Professor Harjinder Singh – Engineering food structures for optimal functionality and nutrition and Dr Alejandra Acevado-Fani – Designing functional foods for modulating the bioaccessibility of bioactive compounds during digestion

• December 2019: CAFE PhD student seminars: Xinying Liu – Discovering the complexities of the digestion process in a human stomach using computational fluid dynamics and Andrea Talbot –Vitamin K bio-accessibility assessment using a gut simulation
• November 2019: Dr Benedetto Marelli, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology – Growing structural proteins into advanced materials for food security
• November 2019: Associate Professor Qihan Dong, Western Sydney University –Preclinical evaluation of plant derived herb medicine in treatment of prostate cancer
• November 2019: CAFE PhD student seminars: Zahra K.M. Shahrbabaki – Smart biodegradable packaging for detecting food spoilage and reducing food waste and Jacopo Giaretta – Bi-enzymatic sensor for food spoilage detection
• November 2019: Dr Peter R Wich, UNSW – Biopolymer-based nanoparticles for applications in drug delivery and immunotherapy
• October 2019: CAFE PhD student seminars: Wenjia Gu – Sustainable microalgal production of Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA) and Chao Zhong  – Development of a physical stomach model
• September 2019: CAFE PhD student seminars: Long Nguyen  – Colorimetric sensors for food safety applications and Chiara Fois  – Intestine-on-a-chip: A new platform for food testing
• August: CAFE PhD student seminars: Katherine Blackshaw  –'Making donated milk more accessible through improved processing techniques’ and Alison Luk  – Host nutrition manipulation for gut microbiota modulation
• August 2019: Phil Morle, Partner, CSIRO’s venture capital fund, Main Sequence Ventures  – Venture capital and the planetary health diet
• July 2019: Associate Professor Ahmad Jabbarzadeh, University of Sydney – Thermo-mechanical effects on the crystallisation of polymers: role of processing condition, size and additives
• June 2019: Professor Mark Morrison, University of Queensland  – Not all methane is created equally: consequences for a diet-induced inflammatory microbiota? 
• June 2019: Professor Margaret Morris, University of New South Wales  – The intersection of palatable food, reward pathways and obesity: role of the brain-gut axis
• May 2019: Professor Jennie Brand-Miller, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney  – Carbohydrates – to love or to loathe? The role of quantity and quality in chronic disease. Presentation slides 
• May 2019: Professor Ute Roessner, Head of School, School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne  – Metabolomics: an important piece in the ‘omics puzzle. Audio of the seminar
• April 2019: Associate Professor Aaron Schindeler, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, University of Sydney  – Dietary supplement therapy for genetic muscle weakness
• March 2019: Professor Bing Wang, Charles Sturt University  – Translational nutrition and food science in human biomedical research: current applications and future directions
• March 2019: PhD candidate Juan Pablo Molina, Centre for Excellence in Advanced Food Enginomics, University of Sydney  – Modelling the community dynamics and the emergence of syntropy in the gut microbiome
• February 2019: Dr Anne Mai-Prochnow, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Sydney  – Cold atmospheric-pressure plasma for the treatment of biofilms and seeds
• February 2019: Associate Professor Alessandro Martucci, University of Padova, Italy – Solution processed nanostructured materials for functional applications

The purpose of this workshop was to explore the intersection of food engineering and personalised food. The workshop brought together academics, industry and government professionals and focused on the key questions on the future of personalised food engineering and food engineering for health.

Topics covered included:

• the physical mechanism for the digestion of food in the gut
• the gut microbiome and personalised food
• future trends in food processing for health.

Presentations included:

• Professor R. Paul Singh, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, UC Davis (USA) on understanding physical mechanisms in gastric digestion to develop next generation of foods for healthful benefits. Download slides
• Dr Mark Read, Faculty of Engineering, University of Sydney on delivering pre/pro-biotic health benefits and getting them to market by moving beyond the ‘one size fits all’ paradigm. Download slides
• Associate Professor Gail Bornhorst, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, UC Davis (USA) on utilising food process engineering to optimise food functional properties. Download slides
• Professor PJ Cullen, Faculty of Engineering, University of Sydney on future uses of plasma in food production and food safety. Download slides
• Professor Fariba Dehghani, Faculty of Engineering, University of Sydney on challenges for future food processing. 
• Juan Molina on the gut microbiome: a path to personalised medicine. Download slides
• Katherine Blackshaw on human milk for humanitarian aid. Download slides
• Chiara Fois on a gut-on-a-chip for the study of food effects on human health. Download slides
• Dr Farshad Oveissi on flexible sensors for detecting food spoilage.
• Jessica Tieng and Alison Luk on dietary fibre effects on small intestine structure and function.