Description

The Doctoral Network “Edible Soft Matter” (ESM), funded by the European Union in the frame of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) funding programme is an international, interdisciplinary, and cross-sectoral network gathering leading experts in basic and applied soft matter and food sciences.

The objective of this 48-month project, starting from 1st March 2025 is to train and develop the employability of a new generation of young researchers, regulators, consultants and project leaders by providing them with a unique expertise in the design, production and quality assessment of innovative plant-based food products.
The consortium includes eleven Beneficiaries from seven countries (including three from the non- academic sector) who will each recruit at least one Doctoral Candidate and twelve Associated Partners (including four from the non-academic sector) with worldwide recognised and complementary expertise.
18 Doctoral Candidates will be recruited and trained in the frame of the ESM project. Through the implementation of an Individual Research Project (IRP) and the network-wide training activities, characterized by a strong involvement of the non-academic partners of the project, the Doctoral Candidates will develop the hard and soft skills needed to face the current challenges related to food and environmental transitions.

The ESM project is organised in seven work-packages (WP) including four research-based WP and three transversal WP dedicated respectively to Doctoral candidates training (WP5), Communication, dissemination & exploitation of the project results (WP6) and to Project management and coordination (WP7). The research-based WP unravel basic scientific questions to address the essential food-related research objectives: Plant-based Ingredients (WP1), Assemblies and Interactions (WP2), Multiscale Structuring (WP3) and Towards Innovative Manufactured Foods (WP4). The scientific objectives of the project will be achieved through the implementation of 18 Individual Research Projects (IRP).

IRP1: PhD position in "Additive fermentation in legume protein extraction: Impact on the macromolecular profiles and functional properties"

Supervision:

Main supervisor: Rémi Saurel, Professor at L’Institut  Agro Dijon

Co-supervisor(s): Dr Annabelle Vera (Philibert Savours SAS), Dr Arno Wouters (KU Leuven)

Objectives:

Some lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains produce exopolysaccharides in response to their environment. These exopolysaccharides (EPS) can be homo (Ho) or hetero (He) types, depending on the bacterial metabolic pathway. In food, EPS are recognised to have health benefits for the host and have interesting properties for stabilising food structures (gels, emulsions, foams). The production of EPS has already been exploited in fermented dairy products (yoghurts and cheeses) to improve their texture. There is a growing interest for in situ production of EPS in legume protein systems to produce clean label plant-based products.  Today, pulse protein ingredients are available as either concentrates or isolates. Innovative production technologies are expected to improve the properties of such ingredients.

The general objective of the project is to implement fermentation using HoEPS-producing LAB in a legume protein extraction process and to characterise the mixed ingredients containing both the legume protein and the EPS in terms of techno-functional properties (solubility, gelling, foaming...). In addition, the structural and textural effects of the new isolated protein fractions on a complex food will be evaluated.

Expected results:   

Optimisation of fermentation parameters of 3 EPS-producing LAB strains adapted to legume flour/concentrate substrates to control the composition in EPS and protein during extraction

Understanding the effect of macromolecular composition on the solubility, gelling, emulsifying and foaming properties of the isolated protein fractions

Developing a proof of concept by using the fermented ingredient in a bakery application

Planned secondments (host institution, supervisor, duration, topic) 

KU Leuven (B), Dr Arno Wouters, 3 months, Characterisation of foaming properties (interfacial rheology and thin film drainage dynamics)

Philibert Savours SAS, Lyon (F), Dr Annabelle Véra, 3 months, Pilot scale extrapolation and validation on a bakery application