Seren Oğuz
PhD Student
She completed her BSc degree in Food Engineering Department at Middle East Technical University at the first rank (Turkey, 2015). She received her MSc degree from the same department at METU in 2018. She has worked as a research and teaching assistant at METU until the end of 2020 and subsequently joined Ghent University as a PhD student in January 2021.
Seren is studying under the supervision of prof. dr. Frank Devlieghere, dr. Lotta Kuuliala, and prof. dr. Peter Ragaert for her PhD. Her research focuses on sustainable food packaging systems, more specifically in how the choice of a specific packaging concept influences the microbial food safety of modified atmosphere packaged food products. In this framework, she is investigating the effect of a dynamic O2 and CO2 modified atmosphere and temperature on the growth of Listeria monocytogenes in/on foods. This will be realized through the development of predictive mathematical models for the effect of the packaging concept on the microbial shelf life. For her PhD study, she was awarded a prestigious scholarship (4 years) from the Republic of Turkey Ministry of National Education.
Within the scope of her master’s study, she worked on the formation of nanofibers for packaging purposes by using the electrospinning technique, which was uncommon in food science. The strength of the study was to design an active packaging material with totally degradable ingredients and to ensure food safety while not harming the environment at the same time. Her MSc thesis was awarded the best thesis in the field of “Contribution to Environment, Health, Economy and Sustainable Development” by the Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences at METU. She has published two original peer-reviewed articles, and two posters from her MSc study were presented. One of them was awarded the 1st ranked poster prize in a poster competition organized by the 1st International Congress on Food Engineering in Antalya/Turkey.
Links:
Master Thesis:
Oguz, S. (2018). Characterization of Pea Flour Based Nanofibers Produced by Electrospinning Method (Master Thesis).
Publications:
Oguz, S., Tam, N., Aydogdu, A., Sumnu, G., & Sahin, S. (2018). Development of novel pea flour-based nanofibres by electrospinning method. International Journal of Food Science and Technology, 53(5), 1269–1277.
Tam, N., Oguz, S., Aydogdu, A., Sumnu, G., & Sahin, S. (2017). Influence of solution properties and pH on the fabrication of electrospun lentil flour/HPMC blend nanofibers. Food Research International, 102.
Poster Presentations:
Oguz, S.*, Tam, N., Aydogdu, A., Sumnu, G., & Şahin, S. The effect of microfluidization process on morphology of legume flours based nanofibers produced by electrospinning method. Poster session presented at: 1st International / 11th National Food Engineering Congress; 2019 November 7-9; Antalya, Turkiye.
Oguz, S., Tam, N., Aydogdu, A., Sumnu, G.*, & Sahin, S. The effects of legume flours and electrospinning conditions on nanofiber characteristics. Poster session presented at: ASEAN Food Conference. 16th AFC; 2019 October 15-18; Bali, Indonesia.