What are the main themes of your research?
My research looks to use byproducts or “waste” of the food and drinks industries in more valuable and sustainable ways. I’m also interested in developing ingredients that are going to have some health benefits, and I particularly target metabolic diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
How did you get interested in this area?
During my master’s degree in India back in 2009, I worked with local farmers in my home state of Maharashtra who grow pomegranates and other fruits to make juice. When the juice is expressed, the pulp was often being discarded, but my research fermented this pulp with fungi and made some interesting pharmaceutical products. I have continued to look at adding value and sustainability to food waste ever since.
RM Block
What kind of foods do you work with now?
One is fish, where we are working with partners across Europe in an EU-funded project called VASEACAD or valorising seafood side streams, residues, unwanted catches and discards. We are looking to add value to byproducts of fish such as bluefin tuna and salmon while working closely with an Irish company, BioAtlantis, on that.
My group also works with spent grain from the brewing and distilling industry as it is a rich source of interesting and potentially valuable products, and we have also teamed up with Feighery’s Farm in Offaly, who produce beetroot juice. We are looking at how to mine the beetroot biomass left over from juicing and extract ingredients for cosmeceuticals.
What brought you to Ireland?
During my PhD in India, I got to work for a while in Canada, and that gave me a more international view. I could see research funding opportunities were better in Europe compared to India, and I applied to Teagasc to do a postdoc in Ireland.
I worked in Ashtown for a couple of years and then I did a postdoc at the University of Limerick, and now I am back in Dublin at TU Dublin School of Food Science and Environmental Health. I love Ireland, and I have just become a naturalised Irish citizen.
What do you wish people understood about your area of research?
I think people don’t realise how much we classify as food “waste” that could have potential value if handled properly. And even where the waste is being used for applications like animal feed, there is probably a lot more that can be done to make it more valuable and sustainable for the environment.
What is the biggest challenge of being a researcher?
For me I think it is time management. I need to balance a heavy lecturing load with research and everything that goes with it, such as writing grants and growing my group.
And what drives you to keep going with research?
I am a people person, and I really enjoy mentoring and supervising the students in my lab. It’s one of my proudest moments when a student who has done a short project with me as an undergraduate wants to come back and work with my group. I also love chatting with people from other fields of research and finding out what they think about my ideas. I find that really exciting.
What do you like to do outside of academia?
I really enjoy pilates and weight training and taking long walks in nature. I like swimming too, but in Ireland I swim in a pool, the sea is far too cold for me!
