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Dr. Umar Zahoor

Dr. Umar Zahoor

  • Position: Research Fellow
  • Areas of expertise: Plant protein physical chemistry; Biomaterials; Machine and material optimisation; Plant milk production and development; 3D food printing (TMF); Yeast fermentation and bio-fortification
  • Email: U.Zahoor@leeds.ac.uk
  • Location: 8.95 EC Stoner Building
  • Website: LinkedIn | Googlescholar | Researchgate | ORCID

Profile

I am currently a research fellow in the field of food fermentation at University of Leeds. During my undergraduate (2007-2011) and postgraduate studies (2011-2013), I specialised in food engineering, and after a four-year career at University of Kashmir (2013-2018), India, undertook my PhD at the Curtin University, Australia (2018-2022), focusing on biorefinery waste-derived hydrocolloids: examining their fundamental physical chemistry and applied aspects in biomaterial manufacturing. Following research positions at Edith Cowan University, Australia, and Curtin University, Australia, I worked as a food scientist at Whole Green Foods, Perth, Australia.

I am a certified user of the Australian Microscopy and Microanalysis Facility and undertook training via Curtin Ignition program towards commercialisation and enhanced skills to develop innovative ideas into business plans. I have worked on various industrial-focused research projects and transformed academic research outputs into valuable commercial outcomes. I have published >18 peer-reviewed papers, 4 book chapters and 1 book; approx. 90 % of manuscripts in Q1 journals (JCR Journal Rankings). My H-index is 10 (SCOPUS), and 12 (google scholar). 

 

Research interests

As a researcher, I have worked on numerous commercially driven research projects sponsored by Grower Group Alliance Australia; South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub, Australia; Curtin University, Australia; Charles Sturt University (in collaboration with GRDC Australia); National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Australia; Whole Green Foods; and University of Kashmir (with funding from Ministry of Food Processing Industries, MOFPI, Government of India). A list of key projects include: 

  • Sustainable transformation of waste from the potato industry into novel feed secure weaning formula.
  • Design of controlled release sorghum protein microparticles encapsulating quercetin and vitamin D as a potential new natural therapy for colon cancer.
  • Development of allergen and preservative free, high protein and stable plant milk alternative.
  • Printing an appetite for life: developing three-dimensional printed texture modified foods for aged care residents.
  • Optimisation of preparation and characterisation of protein microparticles from sorghum dried distillers’ grain with solubles.
  • Sorghum grain innovation.
  • Gluten-free gluten-exploring structural chemistry of non-gluten proteins for its gluten-like properties.
  • Resistant starch for rice and Indian horse chestnut and its utilisation as an encapsulating agent for targeted and controlled release delivery of probiotics.

I am currently investigating:

  • Novel yeast fermentation products and bio-fortification of the yeasts.
  • Gluten-free-gluten: cross-linking to give non-gluten proteins gluten-like properties in particular protein kafirin from sorghum.

Qualifications

  • B.Tech Food Science and Technology (Islamic University of Science and Technology, India)
  • M.Tech Food Science and Technology (Amity University, India)
  • PhD, Curtin University (Australia)