Doctoral Defence in Food Science – Yuetuan Zhang

On Friday, 28 August, Yuetuan Zhang will defend her doctoral thesis in Food Science at the Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Iceland. The thesis is entitled: Quantitative Variations of Bioactive Compounds in Icelandic Edible Seaweeds.

The opponents are Dr Dagbjørn Skipnes, Research Scientist at Nofima AS, Norway, and Dr Susan Løvstad Holdt, Associate Professor at the Technical University of Denmark.

The principal supervisor and supervisor were Björn Viðar Aðalbjörnsson, Associate Professor, and Guðjón Þorkelsson, Professor. In addition, Hörður Guðjón Kristinsson, Director of Research and Product Development, and Hildur Inga Sveinsdóttir, Assistant Professor, served on the doctoral committee.

Ólafur Ögmundarson, Associate Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition, will chair the defence, which will take place in Edda, room E–218, and begin at 9:00 a.m.

Abstract

In the PhD project, quantitative analytical methods to measure key bioactive compounds in edible Icelandic seaweeds, including fucoxanthin, and water-soluble polysaccharides developed and validated. The findings demonstrate that Icelandic seaweeds are a valuable source of nutrients and bioactive compounds with promising applications in the food industry. Fucoidan composition of samples from international market samples were analyzed. The study provides important new insights into the chemical composition and nutritional value of Icelandic seaweed species.

About the doctoral candidate

Yuetuan Zhang was born in China in 1990. She completed a Bachelor's degree in Food Science and Food Engineering at Harbin University of Commerce in China in 2012. She then continued her studies and completed a Master's degree in Food Science at the University of Helsinki in 2015.

As part of her doctoral studies at the Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Iceland, she also spent one year at the University of Helsinki as an Erasmus exchange student, where she conducted research. Her doctoral project also received a one-year grant from the University of Iceland and the Eimskipafélag Íslands University Fund.