Professor Michael Rappolt

Research interests

Michael is a Physicist who is a leading authority on the use of small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) on investigating the structure, shape and flexibility of lipid membranes. General goal is to understand their nanostructural response under different physico-chemical environments. Recent activities have been concentrated on the study of drug/membrane interactions with applications to drug delivery and food.

As Leadership Chair of Lipid Biophysics shall integrate new experimental possibilities in the important area of nanostructure research collaborating with international colleagues as well as with his colleagues from the School of Food Science & Nutrition and related research groups at the University of Leeds. Research topics concentrate on characterizing crystallization processes in food, investigation of colloid interfaces and the determination of particle structures on the nanoscale. Further, Michael is helping to transfer standard measurement techniques applied in food research such as mechanic (sound & shear) and thermodynamic sample manipulations to Synchrotron sites to elucidate food on a smaller (nanometre) and faster (micro-second) scale (for more information visit the Diamond Leeds SAXS Facility web-page). 

Research groups and institutes

• Food Colloids and Processing
• Food Colloids and Soft Matter at Interfaces
• Novel Food Design and Processing
• Digestion and Delivery
• Functional Biopolymers for Food and Health

Current postgraduate researchers

• Yoga Pratama

Projects

<li><a href="//phd.leeds.ac.uk/project/1514-structuring-role-of-confined-water-in-biointerfaces-under-extreme-conditions">Structuring Role of Confined Water in Biointerfaces under Extreme Conditions</a></li>