My name is Alina Kyrylenko and I am from Ukraine. I completed my Bachelor’s degree in Biology with a microbiology specialization at V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University in Ukraine, where my interest in food spoilage and pathogenic bacteria was born. Following my passion, I decided to continue my studies in the field of Food Sciences. I was more than happy to be awarded an Erasmus+ scholarship to pursue a Master’s degree in Food Science, Technology and Business. This was the European Master programme jointly hosted by 3 partner universities: KU Leuven (Belgium), Catholic University (Portugal) and Anhalt University of Applied Sciences (Germany), and it provided a great opportunity not only for obtaining high-quality education but also for international networking and travelling. For my master thesis project, I joined a BioTeC+ research team at KU Leuven, where I investigated the efficiency of plasma-activated liquids for decontamination of biofilms formed by Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella Typhimurium. This project gave me good exposure to predictive modelling, its application in food science, and has raised my interest in bioinformatics.

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Now as a food scientist, I am very excited and curious to be involved in the scientific developments that can lead to new formulations of dairy analogues with organoleptic profiles valued by customers. Therefore, I am very proud to become a part of the E-MUSE project, which contributes to the innovative solutions for plant-based dairy alternatives and ultimately helps to build a more sustainable society.

My research project (ESR13) focuses on the fermentation and flavour development of plant-based cheese analogues using different starter cultures. The scope of this study is to investigate correlations between lactic acid bacteria genetic traits and phenotypic properties during plant-based substrates fermentation. This knowledge can provide a good platform for the development of a tool for the rational selection of bacterial strains and fermentation conditions to produce high-quality and microbiologically safe cheese analogues.