Julia Rodriguez Garcia

My research interests are in the area of food structure. I have a particular interest in furthering our understanding of the functionality of the ingredients in the food matrix, and their impact on the physical, micro and macrostructural properties of the products. My main research focus is in bakery science and it goes from the characterisation of new ingredients/components that have been manufactured; the development of food structures to deliver nutritional benefits, but also improve the consumer experience; and the evaluation of the effect of processing conditions in the matrix development and functionality of the final product.

Moreover, I'm working in the research area of food oral processing with particular attention to the rheology aspects of oral operations. In this area I would like to further our understanding on how human's oral operations (first bite, chewing, swallowing, etc.) define the processing and transformation of food in mouth and how that influence the appreciation of texture and flavour during product consumption.

My research applies physical and microscopic techniques to study food structure, ingredient distribution and interactions, including:

• light microscopy (LM)
• confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM)
• hot stage-LM
• electron microscopy ( SEM, Cryo-SEM)
• rheology: bulk rheology and interfacial rheology
• texture analysis
• DSC
• oral processing analysis
• surface and interfacial tension.