Spotlight on Sten ten Klooster, recipient of the 2022 Edible Applications Technology Division Student Award

We are delighted to announce that Sten ten Klooster is the recipient of the 2022 Edible Applications Technology Division Student Award. This award recognizes graduate students presenting an outstanding oral or poster presentation within the Edible Applications Technology technical program at the AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo.

About Sten ten Klooster

Sten obtained his B.Sc. in food technology at the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands in 2016 and obtained his M.Sc. cum laude at the same university in 2019. His B.Sc. thesis was on using microfluidics to understand mechanisms as they occur in membranes and his M.Sc. thesis was on producing emulsions with microfluidics, for which he was awarded best M.Sc. thesis prize of the department. His M.Sc. internship was performed at Teagasc in Ireland on spray drying of milk. 

In 2019, he started his Ph.D. research on lipid oxidation in food emulsions at the University of Wageningen, and he expects to graduate in the beginning of 2023. Part of his work has already been published in peer-reviewed journal articles, and more publications from his Ph.D. are expected to follow soon.

Can you tell us about your current research?

My current research focuses on the fundamental question of how lipid oxidation propagates in food emulsions, with a strong focus on the underlying mechanisms. In addition, we are using microfluidics as a tool to study the role of certain characteristics of emulsions and their effect on lipid oxidation in food emulsions. With the insights obtained within this research, effective antioxidative strategies can be developed that will improve the shelf life of emulsified foods in natural ways.

What was your reaction when you learned you had won the award?

It was 6:30 a.m. in the morning when I read the email that said I had won the award. At first, the only thing that I could get out was "Woooooww!, Wooooow!" My girlfriend had to ask three times what the reason was that I was shouting "Woooow!" through our apartment at 6:30 a.m. before I could give her a decent answer.