Professor Dr. Patricia @ Patricia Clementina Matanjun
Fakulti Sains Makanan Dan Pemakanan, UMS
Patricia Matanjun is a Professor at Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition, and Head of Functional Foods Research Group, at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS). She has a BSc. (Hons) degree in Food Science and Nutrition, and Biology, from University of Oxford Brookes, Oxford, UK, MSc. degree in Food Biotechnology from University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland, UK, and Ph.D. in Food Chemistry and Biochemistry from Universiti Putra Malaysia. She is a life member of the Malaysian Institute of Food Technology, Nutrition Society of Malaysia, Malaysian Invention and Design Society, and a member of the International Seaweed Association. She teaches various courses in the field of Food Science and Technology such as food product development, functional foods, food security, food analysis, and food hydrocolloids. Formerly, she served as the Dean of the Faculty of Food Science and Nutrition, Head of the Food Safety and Quality Unit, Deputy Head of UMS Press, Deputy Dean Centre for Postgraduate Studies, and Head of the Food Technology and Bioprocessing Programme. She previously worked at Rural Development Corporation, a government agency under Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, before she moved on to work with the food industry and later joined UMS as a lecturer in 1999. She is an enthusiastic food scientist with over 6 years of working experience in the food industry and 24 years of working experience at the university, specializing in the areas of functional foods and food product development. She is one of the pioneering scientists in seaweed research in Malaysia focusing on nutrient composition and health benefits of tropical seaweeds. Her research has become highly cited by academics in the field. She has successfully secured 30 research grants amounting to more than USD 1 million as Project Leader and Project Member from government and industry grants, mainly focussing on functional foods and food product development activities. Her main research interests include the study of chemical, physical, and biological properties of tropical seaweeds. She and her research team collaborated with local and international companies on the development of food products from seaweeds. She and her team won many national and international innovation awards, and special awards for utilizing seaweed as functional food ingredients and dietary supplements for cardiovascular health such as the Platinum Award for the International Innovation of the Year at the British Invention Show (London), Gold Awards at iENA (Nuremberg, Germany), Seoul International Invention Fair Award, ITEX, PECIPTA, BioInnovation and Malaysia Technology Expo. She participated in many conferences at national and international levels as an invited and keynote speaker, and published many research articles on the nutrient composition, antioxidative, and health benefits of tropical seaweeds, mushrooms, and local edible plants.
