Food Science & Technology

Adolphe Merkle Institute Chemin des Verdiers 4 CH-1700 Fribourg Switzerland

Coming from Eastern Europe, food for us represents a moment of connection—a way to share with others and participate in traditions and customs. As a food lover, my driving force is to contribute to this field so that everyone can benefit, sooner or later, from our discoveries in their own kitchens.

Having recently graduated in chemistry, where I focused on the synthesis of a specific monomer and the  polymerization of aramids, my goal for this PhD thesis is to work on fluid gels based on gellan gum, a bacterial exopolysaccharide. The aim is to understand more about the dynamic behavior of physical fluid gels on an extended time scale. Based on these discoveries, we plan to synthetize chemically cross-linked fluid gels and understand the key difference between chemical and physical gels, their rheological behavior and highlight novel applications of these fascinating materials.