Elke Scholten

Dr. Elke Scholten is an Associate Professor in the group of Physics and Physical Chemistry of Foods at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. She has a MSc degree in Physical Chemistry from Utrecht University (NL), a PhD degree in Food Science from Wageningen University (NL), and postdoctoral experience in Chemical Engineering at MIT (USA). Her research group focusses on food structuring approaches to change textural characteristics in a variety of food systems, such as emulsions and gels, both water as oil continuous. She aims to unravel relationships between the structure of food systems to the mechanical properties, lubrication properties and sensory perception using a combination of rheology, tribology, and microscopy techniques. This knowledge is used to provide new guidelines for the reformulation of foods, such as fat reduction and ingredient flexibility.