糖心原创

Contact

• workRoom B28 North Lab
  Sutton Bonington Campus
  Sutton Bonington
  Leicestershire
  LE12 5RD
  UK
• work0115 951 6178
• ni.yang@nottingham.ac.uk

Biography

Dr Ni Yang (Nicole) is an Associate Professor in Flavour Science at the 糖心原创. As an academic at the International Flavour Research Centre, she also serves as the Laboratory Manager for Food and Feed Analysis Consultancy and Training Service (). She fulfils the role of the International Outreach Lead for the Food Science and Nutrition courses, leading the development of the Xerte course website (). As a dedicated member of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee at the School of Biosciences, she secured the University's EDI funding as the Project Lead for . Through this initiative, she actively promotes awareness of Endometriosis, a condition that affects more than 1 in 10 women.

Nicole's research aims to shape a sustainable flavour system by embedding flavour science from soil and plant, processing and production, to consumption and health. Her current research includes flavour chemistry applied to the fields of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and trigeminal sensations (e.g., chilli).

Her research stands at the forefront of the intersection between flavour and health, with a primary focus on the development of an innovative training tool for individuals with flavour perception impairment - a condition that significantly impacts overall quality of life, yet currently lacks a cure.

Dr Yang has over 16-years of experience transferring and applying flavour science and technology to various industries and applications. With her passion and experience in managing knowledge-transferable projects, she is also actively applying her knowledge and skills to various activities, such as exploring collaboration opportunities globally. She has strong links in China and is developing a collaborative platform internally and internationally.

She is a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (MRSC), the member of the Institute of Food Science and Technology (MIFST), and fellow of The Higher Education Academy (FHEA)

More information on her research profile can be found on ORCID ()

Expertise Summary

Nicole's research interests are embedding flavour science from soil to health to understand how flavours are generated and affected by the plant (e.g., tea and coffee flavour can be affected by soil and growing conditions), by animal feeding (e.g., different feed compositions can result in varied flavour quality in the final food product), how different food processing and engineering would affect flavour formation and stability in the final product, how flavour science can help developing healthy food product or tailored to a particular population (e.g., food for elder group).

She has a particular passion for investigating the impact of trigeminal stimuli, such as chilli/spicy sensations.

Teaching Summary

Nicole believes in student-centred teaching and respects individual learners in diverse learning communities. She has been actively applying blended learning design in her teaching and learning… read more

Research Summary

Nicole is enthusiastic about international collaboration in the field of food flavour research. Her current passion is about trigeminal sensation evoke from capsaicin and how it interacts with… read more

Recent Publications

• 2025. Food Chemistry. 141888
• 2024. Food Chemistry. 141537
• 2024. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis. 106344
• 2023. International Journal of Food Science and Technology. 58, 4921-4930

• View all publications

Nicole believes in student-centred teaching and respects individual learners in diverse learning communities. She has been actively applying blended learning design in her teaching and learning activities. She has completed her Postgraduate Certificate in High Education (PGCHE) and has achieved the status of Fellow of Higher Education Academy (FHEA).

She teaches at undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate levels in the following 9 modules at the School of Biosciences: International Food Commodities (UG), Trends in Food Research (UG), Food Flavour and Advanced Sensory Science (UG), Food Factory Operations (UG), Molecular Biological Laboratory Skills (UG), Food - Technical Team Challenges (UG), Food Flavour (PG), Advanced Practical Methods in Food Science (PG), and Food Production Management - Research Projects (PG).

She is the module co-convenor for the Food Flavour (PG) module, which is a 1-week course that is also open to external delegates (/facts/training-courses.aspx). She led the re-design of the course to be delivered virtually and blended the problem-based learning into the interactive online sessions.

Current Research

• Nicole is enthusiastic about international collaboration in the field of food flavour research. Her current passion is about trigeminal sensation evoke from capsaicin and how it interacts with aroma and taste release and perception, as well as its health impact. She is current working with Prof. Jianshe Chen as a result of 2 year funding, which initiated the collaborative project with Zhejiang Gongshang University. She is pro-actively seeking new knowledge and technology to deliver multi-modal sensations and measure their response scientifically.

Past Research

• Nicole's passion for Food Sciences started in 2003, where she studied at the University of Leeds for her Bachelor degree and conducted her final year project with Prof. Eric Dickinson on Instrumental assessment and sensory perception of the stickiness of polysaccharide-containing emulsions". This project inspired her passion to continue her research on Food Sciences.

• Thanks to the full funding from Prof. Bronek Wedzicha at the University of Leeds, she continued her Master by Research on Food Science. This Master project was sponsored through the 'Link' programme from DEFRA (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, UK), which involved a multi-national food corporation, a canning producer and a world-leading coating manufacturer. She gained some insights to understand research through both academic and industry point of view.

• Nicole awarded her PhD on Food Sciences at the 糖心原创 after receiving the funding from the Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) and sponsorship from the flavour house Aromco Ltd (current under Frutarom Ltd). Under Prof. Andy Taylor's supervision, she applied flavour release technology (MS-Nose) to measure real time delivery of aroma compounds in mouth and reformulated flavourings for a range of food products at different fat levels. With the support from Prof. Joanne Hort and Dr. Ian Fisk, she also investigated the flavour stability within the bakery product's shelf-life and suggested alternative material with enhanced stability. The KTP project she managed awarded the 'Certificate of Excellence' and final graded 'outstanding' as the result of satisfactory research outcomes and commercial applications.

Future Research

• Nicole is interested to explore the science of flavour in different contexts, and to discover some underlying mechanisms in flavour release and perception. She is also keen to search how science and research could help feeding the hunger in developing societies and reducing waste in developed societies.

• 2025. Food Chemistry. 141888
• 2024. Food Chemistry. 141537
• 2024. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis. 106344
• 2023. International Journal of Food Science and Technology. 58, 4921-4930
• 2022. Food Chemistry. 132824
• YANG, N, YANG, Q, CHEN, J and FISK, I, 2021. LWT. 138, 110613
• ZHANG, TINGTING, AYED, CHARFEDINNE, FISK, IAN D, PAN, TONG, WANG, JIANHUA, YANG, NI and SUN, QUN, 2021. Food chemistry. 367, 130760
• WARD, ELLEN, YANG, NI, MUHLHAUSLER, BEVERLY S., LEGHI, GABRIELA E., NETTING, MERRYN J., ELMES, MATTHEW J. and LANGLEY-EVANS, SIMON C., 2021. MATERNAL AND CHILD NUTRITION. 17(3),
• LESTER, SOPHIE, CORNACCHIA, LEONARDO, CORBIER, CAMILLE, TAYLOR, MOIRA A., AYED, CHARFEDINNE, YANG, NI, LIM, MUI, LINFORTH, ROB and FISK, IAN, 2021. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS. 11(1),
• YANG, N, YANG, Q, ZHAO, J, FAN, X, CHEN, J and FISK, I, 2021. Impact of capsaicin on salt release and salt perception during consumption of salt and salt-capsaicin solutions. In: E. GUICHARD and J.L. LE QU脡R脡, eds., Proceedings of the 16th Weurman Flavour Research Symposium
• YANG, N, GALVES, C, GONCALVES, A.C.R, CHEN, J and FISK, I, 2020. Food Research International. 133,
• SUN, Z, CUI, H, YANG, N, AYED, C, ZHANG, X and FISK, I, 2020. Food Chemistry.
• LIU, C., YANG, Q, LINFORTH, R, FISK, I. and YANG, N, 2019. Food Chemistry. 272, 251-257
• SUN, ZHENCHUN, YANG, NI, LIU, CHUJIAO, LINFORTH, ROBERT S. T., ZHANG, XIAOMING and FISK, IAN D., 2019. FOOD CHEMISTRY. 295, 449-455
• GENOVESE, ALESSANDRO, CAPORASO, NICOLA, DI BARI, VINCENZO, YANG, NI and FISK, IAN, 2019. FOOD RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL. 126,
• DAVIDE GIACALONE, TINA KREUZFELDT DEGN, NI YANG, CHUJIAO LIU and IAN D. FISK, 2018. Food Quality and Preference.
• ZHANG, YIRU, YANG, NI, FRAY, RRAY, FISK, IAN, LIU, CHUJIAO, LI, HONGYING and HAN, YUANHUAI, 2018. Journal of Cereal Science. 82, 8-15
• GENOVESE, ALESSANDRO, YANG, NI, LINFORTH, ROB, SACCHI, RAFFAELE and FISK, IAN, 2018. Food Research International. 112, 319-327
• LIU, CHUJIAO, NI YANG, QIAN YANG, CHARFEDINNE AYED, ROBERT LINFORTH and IAN D FISK, 2018.
• YANG, NI, LIU, CHUJIAO, LIU, XINGKUN, DEGN, TINA KREUZFELDT, MUNCHOW, MORTEN and FISK, IAN, 2016. FOOD CHEMISTRY. 211, 206-214
• ULUISIK, SELMAN, CHAPMAN, NATALIE H., SMITH, REBECCA, POOLE, MERVIN, ADAMS, GARY, GILLIS, RICHARD B., BESONG, TABOT M. D., SHELDON, JUDITH, STIEGELMEYER, SUZY, PEREZ, LAURA, SAMSULRIZAL, NURUL, WANG, DUODUO, FISK, IAN D., YANG, NI, BAXTER, CHARLES, RICKETT, DANIEL, FRAY, RUPERT, BLANCO-ULATE, BARBARA, POWELL, ANN L. T., HARDING, STEPHEN E., CRAIGON, JIM, ROSE, JOCELYN K. C., FICH, ERIC A., SUN, LI, DOMOZYCH, DAVID S., FRASER, PAUL D., TUCKER, GREGORY A., GRIERSON, DON and SEYMOUR, GRAHAM B., 2016. NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY. 34(9),
• CHIU, NATALIE, HEWSON, LOUISE, YANG, NI, LINFORTH, ROBERT and FISK, IAN, 2015. LWT-FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY. 63(1), 65-70
• YANG, N., HORT, J. LINFORTH, R. S. T., TAYLOR, A. J., WALSH, S., BROWN, K., & FISK, I.D., 2014. Aroma and Flavour Solvent: Impact on the Matrix. Flavour Science: Proceedings from XIII Weurman Flavour Research Symposium. 147-150
• NI YANG, JOANNE HORT, ROBERT LINFORTH, KEITH BROWN, STEWART WALSH and IAN D. FISK, 2013. Food Chemistry.
• YANG, N., FISK, I.D., LINFORTH, R., BROWN, K., WALSH, S, MOONEY, S., STURROCK, C. and HORT, J., 2012. European Food Research and Technology. 235(6), 1083-1091
• BLEE, N, LINFORTH, R, YANG, N, BROWN, K and TAYLOR, A, 2011. Flavour And Fragrance Journal. 26(3), 186-191
• YANG, NICOLE, LINFORTH, ROBERT S. T., WALSH, STUART, BROWN, KEITH, HORT, JOANNE and TAYLOR, ANDREW J., 2011. FLAVOUR AND FRAGRANCE JOURNAL. 26(2), 107-115
• LINFORTH, R., CABANNES, M., HEWSON, L., YANG, N. and TAYLOR, A, 2010. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 58(11), 6905-6911
• Food Chemistry. 131165