MFPE Lab News

On Dec 18, 2025, our project, "Expands legumes, citrus, vegetables and industrial hemp markets in DC, DE, MD, NJ, PA & VA supporting farmers with practice implementation.", was awarded by the USDA NRCS AMP program. The project has $5,220,734.00 of support, with about 3.2 million dollars will be directly used to support American Farmers. 

On Dec 24, 2025, our project, "Partnership: Postharvest Processing Of Leafy Greens By Novel Washing Systems With Plasma And Nanobubble-Based Sanitizers", was awarded by the USDA NIFA AFRI Foundational and Applied Science Program, A1521 Engineering for Agricultural Production and Processing. Thanks to our Co-PIs, including Dr. Arne Pearlstein at UIUC, and Dr Bin Zhou and Dr. Yaguang Luo. 

On August 20, 2025, our project, "Processing-Induced Changes In Carbohydrates and Proteins in Grains And Legumes: Impact On Human Gut Microbiota", was awarded by the USDA NIFA AFRI Foundational and Applied Science Program, A1343 Food and Human Health. 

Fariha Chowdhury Meem received the competitive IAFP HACCP PDG Student Award for our research titled "Effects of Plasma-Activated Microbubble Water (PAMW) Treatments on the Inactivation of Escherichia coli on Fresh Produce," presented at the IAFP Annual Meeting 2025 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Fariha Chowdhury Meem was awarded the ANFS Graduate Student Travel Award to present our research on the plasma-activated microbubble water (PAMW) system for fresh produce at the IAFP Annual Meeting 2025 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Our paper, "Biochar: from agricultural waste byproducts to novel adsorbents for ammonia and micro/nanoplastics (MNPs)", was finally accepted and published in Biochar (IF 14.4). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42773-025-00554-z. This is Ruogu's first paper in our group, and Kudos to our collaborators, Dr. Changqing Wu and her group. 

Our paper, Biochar-Phytagel Hydrogel Enhances Growth, Nutrient Uptake, and Drought Resilience of Lettuce Microgreens, was published in Journal of Agriculture and Food Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jafr.2025.102573. Our research on biochar has started to deliver outcomes. 

Our review paper, Unveiling the Synergistic Effects in Graphene-Based Composites as a New Strategy for High Performance and Sustainable Material Development: A Critical Review, was published in Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.3390/su172210058. Kudos to our collaborators, Dr. Hongchao Zhang and Jie Xu. 

Our paper, Effects of Cold Plasma Fumigation (CPF) Treatments on the Inactivation of Escherichia coli on Food Contact Surfaces and Fresh Produce, was published in the Journal of Food Science. https://doi.org/10.1111/1750-3841.70639. This is Fariha's first published manuscript; in our lab, it is an important milestone. Thanks for the support from our colleagues from Dr. Kali Kniel's group. 

Our paper, Decontamination of fresh apples using air micro-nanobubbles with epsilon-poly-lysine, was published in Food Innovation and Advances. https://doi/10.48130/fia-0025-0038. Kudos to our collaborators, Dr. Hongchao Zhang and his team. 

Our paper, Influence of Resistant Starch‐Added Meat Analogs on the Resistome of Fecal Fermentations Using Human Gut Microbiota, was published in the Journal of Food Science. https://doi.org/10.1111/1750-3841.70430.  Kudos to our collaborators, Dr. Boce Zhang and Dr. Diana Taft from the University of Florida.

Our paper, Exploring the effects of plasma-activated water and probe-type ultrasonication on white shrimp (Litopenaeus setiferus) and Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) proteins: A comparative study. was published in LWT-Food Science and Technology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2024.117281. Thanks for the efforts and support from our collaborators, Dr. Qinchun Rao and his team at Florida State University. 

On Nov 13, Our collaborator, Dr. Qianwen Lu, presented our poster, Investigate the Impact of Poultry Manure Biochar on Swiss Chard Productivity and Soil Health in the Mid-Atlantic [Abstract] at CANVAS 2025, Salt Lake City, UT. Kudos to Dr. Lu, and we look forward to more collaborations with you.  https://scisoc.confex.com/scisoc/2025am/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/166466

On August 18, 2025. Dr. J. Tan successfully presented our work, Rapid and in-line detection of food texture and moisture by hyperspectral imaging and machine learning, at the 2025 ACS Fall Meeting in DC through the Division of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, SESSION: Using Artificial Intelligence to Improve Agriculture and Food Systems. 

On July 30, 2025, Dr. J. Tan successfully presented our technical Presentation titled "Synergistic Antimicrobial Effect of Plasma-activated Microbubble Water (PAMW) and Ultraviolet Light (UV) to Enhance Escherichia coli Inactivation on Fresh Produce” at the IAFP 2025 conference in Cleveland, Ohio.

On July 28, 2025, Dr. Tang successfully presented our technical Presentation titled "Utilization of Biochar in Removing Micro-nanoplastic from Food and Agricultural Grade Water” at the IAFP 2025 conference in Cleveland, Ohio.

On July 30, 2025, Dr. H.R. Tan successfully presented our work titled "Effect of extrusion processing on the anti-nutritional factors of lima beans flour (Phaseolus lunatus L.) produced in Delaware, United States” at the IAFP 2025 conference in Cleveland, Ohio.

On July 27, 2025, Fariha Chowdhury Meem successfully delivered a technical presentation on our work, titled "Effects of Plasma-activated Microbubble Water (PAMW) Treatments on the Inactivation of Escherichia coli on Fresh Produce," at the IAFP 2025 conference in Cleveland, Ohio.

On July 29, 2025, Fariha Chowdhury Meem successfully presented a poster on our work, titled "Effects of Plasma-activated Microbubble Water (PAMW) Treatments on the Inactivation of Escherichia coli on Fresh Produce," at the IAFP 2025 conference in Cleveland, Ohio.

Our lab has up to 2 Ph.D./Master's openings for Fall 2026. The position is fully funded with stipends and tuition. Detailed information can be found on this page. 

We are constantly interested in recruiting undergraduate assistants, trainees, or summer interns. Please reach out to the PI for potential opportunities. 

We currently do not have openings for postdocs. However, we always make exceptions for phenomenal candidates. Give it a shot and send PI your CV and research interests.