Lab members

Principal Investigator

Dr. M. S. Roopesh

Associate Professor 

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Education

  • Ph.D. in Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
  • M. Tech., Post Harvest Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India
  • B.Tech., Agricultural Engineering, Kerala Agricultural University, Trichur, India

Professional Experience

  • Associate Professor (2022-Present), University of Alberta, Canada
  • Assistant Professor (2016-2022), University of Alberta, Canada
  • Research Associate in Low-Moisture Food Safety Engineering (2012-2015), Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA

Achievements/Awards

  • Faculty Mobility for Partnership Building Program (FMPBP) scholarship (which is part of Global Affairs Canada’s International Scholarships Program), 2024 
  • Research and Innovation Award, Faculty of Agricultural, Life, and Environmental Sciences, University of Alberta, 2020. 
  • Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Emerging Leaders Network Program, 2017
  • Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Foundation Feeding Tomorrow Graduate Scholarship, 2011, 2010
  • Outstanding student award and Kegel Fellowship award, Biological Systems Engineering department, Washington State University, Pullman, 2010.
  • Graduate School Doctoral Scholarship, Washington State university, 2011. December Career Day, PepsiCo and the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS), 2011
  • E-Journal Prize, International Commission of Agricultural Engineering (CIGR), 2008. International

Collaboration and Research Mobility

  • Visiting Professor, Indian Council of Agricultural Research - National Dairy Research Institute, Bangalore, supported by Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), India (February 2024).  
  • Visited and delivered guest lectures at Center for Low Temperature Plasma, Nagoya University, Japan; Swansea University, UK; NIFTEM Thanjavur, India; and KMUTT Bangkok, Thailand, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia; Institute of Plasma Physics, of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague. 

Professional Affiliation

  • Professional Member, Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology (CIFST), 2016-Present.
  • Professional Member, Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), 2008-Present.
  • Member, International Association of Food Protection (IAFP), 2015-Present

Synergistic Activities

  • Editorial Board Member, Journal of Food Science (Food Engineering, Material Science, and Nanotechnology), Institute of Food Technologists.  
  • Editorial Board Member, Food Engineering Reviews

 

Lab members

Visiting Scientists/Students

  • Dr. Luis Puente Díaz, Visiting Professor from Universidad de Chile (May 2023 - Present)
  • Negar Ravash, Research Assistant and Visiting PhD student from Tabriz University, Iran (July 2023-Present)
    • Project: Cold plasma treatment of colostrum 
  • Aditya Sukumar Pasagadi, Visiting PhD student from National Dairy Research Institute, Bangalore, supported by Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), India (September 2023-Present)
    • Project: Cold plasma treatment of liquid whey

Postdoctoral Fellows and Research Assistants

  • Dr. Bhagyashree Tiwari, Postdoctoral Fellow (January 2024 - Present)
    • Project: Bacterial biofilm inactivation by novel technologies  
  • Shifa Dinesh, Lab Coordinator and Research Assistant (November 2021 - Present)

Graduate Students

  • Shivani Sonkar, PhD student (January 2024 - Present)
    • Project: Development of Plasma activated water spray technology 
  • Prithviraj Vellamunda, PhD student (September 2023 - Present)
    • Project: Development of plasma ultrafine bubble technology 
  • Sitian Zhang, PhD student (September 2019 - Present) (Co-supervised with Dr. Lingyun Chen)
    • Project: Protein functionality improvement by novel technologies
  • Pauline Chan, Masters student (July 2022 - Present)
    • Project: Plant protein value addition by cold plasma and 3D printing
  • Rahul Chetry, Masters student (September 2022 - Present)
    • Project: Pathogen inactivation in water by ultraviolet light and nanomaterials 
  • Devansh Patel, Masters student (September 2022 - Present)  

 

Former members

Postdoctoral Fellows/Research Assistants/Visiting Scientists

  • Dr. Harleen Dhaliwal, Research Assistant (November 2023 - Present)
  • Dr. Bhagyashree Tiwari, Research Assistant (November 2022 - December 2023)
  • Dr. Lihui Du, Ningbo University, China, Visiting Professor (January - March 2023)
  • Dr. Rami Althnaibat, Research Assistant (November 2022 - February 2023)
  • Barun Yadav, Postdoctoral Fellow (April 2022 - October 2022)
  • Amritha Prasad, Research Assistant (July 2022 - September 2022)
  • Dr. Basheer Iqdiam, Postdoctoral Fellow (June 2019-May 2021)
  • Cinu Varghese, Shastri Research Student Fellowship (SRSF)-Doctoral award (IIT Kharagpur, India, July-December 2019)
  • Bina Gautam, Research Assistant (February 2019-February 2020) Farah Naz, Research Assistant (September 2018-August 2019)
  • Lihui Du, PhD, Postdoctoral fellow (March-October 2018)
  • Ana Claudia Spinelli, visiting scientist (Jointly with Dr. McMullen), (Federal ministry of agriculture, Brazil, February 2017-January 2018)

Graduate Students

  • Harleen Kaur Dhaliwal (PhD, Degree completed: September 2023)
    • Thesis: Efficacy of conventional and novel antimicrobial treatments on the inactivation of desiccated cells and biofilms of Salmonella 
  • Ehsan Feizollahi (PhD, Degree completed: January 2023)
    • Thesis: Mycotoxin degradation in food and feed grains by atmospheric cold plasma technology
  • Muhammad Zubair (PhD, Degree completed: January 2023) (Co-supervised with Dr. Aman Ullah)
    • Thesis: Feather Keratin Derived Sustainable Biosorbents for Adsorption of Heavy Metal Ions from Water
  • Barun Yadav (PhD, Degree completed: January 2022)
    • Thesis: Application of Atmospheric Cold Plasma to Improve Microbial Safety of Meat Products
  • Amritha Jaya Prasad (PhD, Degree completed: January 2022)
    • Thesis: Antimicrobial applications of treatments using light pulses emitted from light emitting diodes
  • Yuliya Barsukova, Masters student (MSc, Degree completed: January 2024) (Co-supervised with Dr. John Wolodko)
    • Project: Microbial safety of 3D printed foods
  • Sreelakshmi Menon (MSc, Degree completed: September 2023)
    • Thesis: Improvement in the Functionality & 3D Printability of Pea Protein Gels Prepared by Plasma Activated Microbubble Water
  • Muhammad Faisal Arif, Masters student (MSc, Degree completed: September 2023)
    • Thesis: Effects of Atmospheric Cold Plasma Treatment on Canola Protein Structural and Functional Properties
  • Abdullahi Adam (MSc, Degree completed: January 2021)
    • Thesis: Microbial decontamination and rapid cooling of fresh food products by plasma integrated low-pressure cooling
  • Alvita Mathias (MSc, Degree completed: January 2021)
    • Thesis: Development of 3D printed foods and their drying and decontamination using light emitting diodes
  • Samir Subedi (MSc, Degree completed: January 2020)
    • Thesis: High intensity pulsed Light Emitting Diode (LED) treatment for simultaneous Salmonella inactivation and drying of wheat flour and pet food
  • Bina Gautam (MSc, Degree received: June 2019)
    • Thesis: Influence of water activity on thermal resistance of microbial pathogens in low water activity foods
  • Shreyak Chaplot (MSc, Degree received: June 2018)
    • Thesis: Atmospheric cold plasma based hurdle technology to improve food safety

Undergraduate students/Interns

  • Ella Sun, (NUFS 401, University of Alberta, Winter 2023) 
  • Jenna Wong, (NUFS 401, University of Alberta, September 2022) 
  • Hitarth Godhani, (NUFS 401, University of Alberta, September 2022)
  • Yuxuan Ge, (NUFS 401, University of Alberta, July 2019, GFTC scholarship, September-December 2019)
  • Sabrina Chang, (NUFS 401, University of Alberta, July 2019)
  • Jorge Humberto Sanchez Ochoa, Mitacs Globalink intern (University of Guadalajara, Mexico, June-August 2019)
  • Yazeed Alnefaie, Mitacs Globalink intern (King Saud University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, June-August 2018)
  • Qifan Wu (NUFS 401, University of Alberta, July-August 2018)
  • Jiayu Zhao (NUFS 401, University of Alberta, July-August 2018)
  • Akina Yoshioka, UARE undergraduate intern (University of Sao Palo, Brazil, May-August 2017)
  • Bharti Sharma, UARE undergraduate intern (Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India, May-August 2017)
  • Kexin Li, UARE undergraduate intern (National University of Singapore, May-August 2017)