Food Science (2014 - )

Degree

 Ph. D. University of California, Davis, 2012

Research

As a faculty member in the Departments of Food Science & Technology and Biological & Agricultural Engineering, Dr. Bornhorst’s research will focus on quantitative methods to understand material transport, breakdown, and absorption in the gastrointestinal tract to improve food safety and quality, increase consumer health benefits, and optimize food processing operations. Specifically, she plans to work on the development of dynamic in vitro models, which, coupled with in vivo approaches, can be used to further our understanding of the relationship between food processing, food breakdown during digestion, and nutrient absorption. Additionally, she plans to investigate methods to utilize food process engineering to optimize food functional properties, such as nutrient absorption or allergenicity. To enable fundamental understanding of the digestion process, Dr. Bornhorst’s research will also investigate mixing and particle dynamics during peristaltic flow.