Academic Staff

Dr Azza Silotry Naik

Lecture and Program Chair (Food Science)

Background

Azza Silotry Naik; ORCID: 0000-0003-1386-2374; Area of research - Isolation, purification & formulation of functional ingredients from plant & marine by-products

Education

2015, PhD - PhD in Food Biotechnology (Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India); Recipient of IFT (USA) Graduate technical writing award; DBT, UGC and ICMR (India) Travel grants

2009, Master of Technology M. Tech in Bioprocess Technology (Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India)

Employment

Aug 2022 – current. Assistant Lecturer in Food Science & Environmental Health, TU Dublin

Module lead/taught: Food chemistry, Physical chemistry, Instrumentation- Chromatography, Medicinal chemistry, Bioprocessing techniques, Beverage analysis

Jan 2022- July 2022 Senior scientist at Nuritas, Ireland

Jan 2021-Jan 2022 Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Limerick, Ireland

Jan 2019- Dec 2020 Postdoctoral Researcher at Teagasc, Ashtown, Ireland

March 2015 to Dec 2018 Assistant Professor & Section Head for Food Science in the School of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, D. Y. Patil Deemed to be University, Navi Mumbai, India

Funding

SBEP-2 (Horizon Europe co-funded 2025) for Valorising seafood side streams for production of bioactive protein hydrolysates: €300,000

Research Ireland Enterprise Partnership Scheme 2025 for Structured research master’s degree: €68,000

ARISE (ERDF Southern, Eastern & Midland Regional Programme 2021-27) PhD funding to the proposal, Brewers’ Spent Grain Hydrolysates for upcycled functional Pet Food: €135,500

COST ACTION Ocean4Biotech (CA18238) funded STSM at University of Copenhagen, Denmark (microalgae protein extraction and analysis): €3000

Enterprise Ireland Feasibility Funding for market research of developed cosmeceutical ingredients: €15,000

Research Experience

Has previously worked as a postdoctoral researcher on bioprocessing of marine by-products on projects such as MUSSELS (EMFF), MEESO (EU H-2020) and SarcoBlu (DAFM) to yield high value functional products. As a Senior Food Scientist at Nuritas (2022), Ireland, helped process optimisation of faba bean protein hydrolysates.

Academic Experience and achievements

Member of the Institute of Chemistry of Ireland (M0926) and Irish Delegate of the Food chemistry division of EUChemS.
Profile in Irish Times : From fish, fruits, beets and grain - the food waste that can do so much more – The Irish Times
Editorial board member of Wiley journal Food Bioengineering
Core group member (WG3) of COST action Ocean4Biotech (CA18238)
Managing committee member from Ireland for COST action ACRYRED (CA21149).
Expert reviewer on the EU Sustainability blue economy partnership call 2023.
Member of the winning team of Hackathon in marine biotechnology (2021).
Scientific organising committee member for FULLRECO4US conference (Turkey) & Ocean4Biotech LCA training School (Crete).
Member of FSEH’s health and safety committee and Research committee.
Spoke on Carbohydrates and Proteins for RTEjr podcast, Sense of Science 2024

Relevant Publications

Osei, E. D., Naik, A. S., Kinsella, G., Delaney, T., & Stuart, K. (2025). Potential of Brewer’s Spent Grain Bioactive Fractions as Functional Ingredients for Companion and Farm Animal Foods – A Reviews. Applied Food Research, 101138–101138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.afres.2025.101138
Karpova, A., Adesina, D., Tian, F., & Naik, A. S. (2025). Seaweed (Laminaria digitata) and Honey Kombucha: A Fermented Antioxidant-Rich Beverage. Fermentation, 11(7), 379. https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation11070379
Teixeira, D. C., Kokojka, F., Kolukuluri, R. S., Marks, R. S., & Naik, A. S.* (2024). Deep Dive into Seaweed-Based Preservatives for Sustainable Production and Consumption of Meat Products. Food Reviews International, 1–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/87559129.2024.2428392
Naik, A.S.*, Brugiere, M., Dunne, K. et al. Protease hydrolysed brewers’ spent grain bioactive extracts for applications in human health. Syst Microbiol and Biomanuf (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43393-024-00241-3
Naik, A.S., * Jamakhani, M., Vernekar, M.R., Lele, S.S. (2021). Animal- and Plant-Based Food for Health and Longevity. In: Rattan, S.I.S., Kaur, G. (eds) Nutrition, Food and Diet in Ageing and Longevity. Healthy Ageing and Longevity, vol 14. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83017-5_8
Naik A.S, Whitaker RD, Albrektsen S, Solstad RG, Thoresen L and Hayes M (2021) Mesopelagic Fish Protein Hydrolysates and Extracts: A Source of Novel Anti-Hypertensive and Anti-Diabetic Peptides. Front. Mar. Sci. 8:719608. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2021.719608
Naik, A. S., & Hayes, M. (2019). Bioprocessing of mussel by-products for value added ingredients. Trends in Food Science &Technology (Vol. 92, pp. 111–121). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2019.08.013

Supervision at TU Dublin

Primary supervisor 3PhD and 1 M.Phil