Åse Solvej Hansen

Primary fields of research

• Baking quality of rye varieties
• Wheat types and varieties, inclusive the original wheat species.
• Impact of manufacturing methods on aroma formation in bread, including the influence of various sourdough.
• The stability of the industrial sourdoughs and how sourdough can inhibit the formation of a row line in the bread caused by Bacillus spp.
• Baking quality of rye under the influence of variety and weather conditions, and variations in ingredients.
• Change in composition during the industrial production of bread. This includes changes in chemical substances as dietary fiber, phenolic acids and phytate breakdown and release of minerals.
• Effect of milling processes on the content of vitamin E in wheat flour, and changes during storage.

Recently, research into legumes has been involved in the form of the EU-funded research project on the African Marama beans.

The research work is based on several externally financed research projects and this has resulted in more than 60 international scientific articles

Teaching

• Organiser and instructor of several courses in Cereal Science on Bachelor, Master and Ph.D. levels.
• Organiser and instructor of international courses in Food Culture.
• Supervision activities > 50 Master students (Main supervisor) 12 Ph.D. students (Main supervisor)

CV

Employment and education

1989 – current: Associate professor at Department of Food Science, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen.

1985 – 1989: Assistant professor at The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Denmark

1981 – 1985: Head of the laboratory for quality control and product development, Schulstad Bread, Denmark

1978 – 1981: Head of the laboratory for quality control at Schulstad bread.

1978: Food Scientist from the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University (KVL).

Project management of externally funded projects

Coordinator of the EU-funded project MARAMA II - Development of Innovative and Healthful Marama Bean (Tylosema esculentum) Products Targeting Niche Markets . EU-projekt Kontract no. 032059, 2007-2010.

Supervisor for the following PhD projects:

• Gerrard Starr. Aroma Traits in modern wheat and landraces . Danish Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, 2008-2011.
• Anja Niehues Birch. Formation of bread flavour . Sponsored by KU-Life, Research School Food, and Lantmännen, 2008-2012.
• Emils Kozlinskis, Stability of Lactobacillus in Latvian sourdough . Latvia University of Agriculture, Cirius stipend 2008-2009. Lina Nuobariene: Phytase activity in yeasts.KU-Life stipend, 2008-2011.
• Minah Mosele: Chemical and functional characterisation of marama bean carbohydrates . Sponsored by Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology, Botswana, 2008-2011.
• Mette Holse: Quality of marama bean . European Commission, PF6 and Research School for Organic Agriculture and Food Systems, LIFE, 2008-2012.
• Ghulam Mueen Ud Din: Quality of sourdough flat bread (naan). Higher Education Commission, Pakistan, 2007-2008.
• Merete Højrup Møller Nielsen : Vitamin-E in milled products from organic grown wheat and spelt. Collaboration project sponsored by The Ministry of Food 2004-2007 and Research School for Organic Agriculture and Food Systems, KVL.
• Adriana Okrajková, Slovakia Grain Quality. Sponsored by Cirius Cultural Exchange programme, 2006. Visiting Ph.d. student.
• Agne Sventickaite, Lithuania Characterisation and antimicrobial activity of lactic acid bacteria isolated from Lithuanian sourdoughs. Sponsored by Cirius Cultural Exchange programme, 2004-2005. Visiting Ph.D. student.
• Mette Findal Andreasen Phenolic acids in rye and rye bread . The project was sponsored by Danish Research Academy and Danish Agricultural Sciences, 1998-2001.
• Hanne Rosenquist Contamination of cereals with heat resistant Bacillus spp. Project in collaboration with the baking industry sponsored by The Ministry of Agriculture, 1992-1995.
• Steen H. Rasmussen: Characterization of sourdough for optimizing of sourdough fermentation for rye bread production . Industrial Ph.D. project sponsored by the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences (ATV) and Schulstad bakery, 1992-1995.
• Jan Grøndal Utilization of Brewers Spent Grain Fractions as Ingredients in Food and Feed Industry.Industrial Ph.D. project for sponsored by the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences (ATV) and Carlsberg Brewery, 1991-1994

Other extern finaced projects:

• Grain Quality . Ph.d. student Maarika Alaru, Estonia, Sponsored by Cirius Cultural Exchange programme, 2001
• Activity of phytase and degradation of phytate in whole grain rye bread. Project sponsored by Cerealia, Sweden. 2004. 
• Coarse structure of whole grain with emphasis on phytate degradation. Sponsored by Oresund Food Network, 2004.
• Quality of milled products from organic grown wheat. Sponsored by the Foundation for Organic Agriculture. 2003. 
• Ancient wheat: Botanical components, technological properties and sensory quality . Sponsored by Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries in collaboration with industrial partners. 1999-2000.
• Staling of bread packed in modified atmosphere . Collaboration project sponsored by Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, 1998-1999.
• Rye quality for bread making. Collaboration project in the Danish Cereal Networksponsored by Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, 1997-2001. 
• Microbial stability of sourdoughs . Financed by Industrial Ministry and Nordic Industrial Found in collaboration with partners from Finland and Sweden. 1995-1996. 
• Conditions for survival and multiplication of rope producing Bacillus in bread . Sponsored by the Danish Research Council, 1992-1993. 
• Influence of wheat sourdough on bread quality . Ministry of Agriculture. 1992-1994. 
• Influence of sourdough fermentation on the flavour of rye bread . Sponsored by the Danish Research Council, 1986-1988.

Administrative experience and membership of scientific assessments kommittér

The evaluator and advisor to EU

• Appointed member of group for technical advice on organic production and drawing up the pool list. Official Journal of European Union of 28. September, 2010
• Scientific expert for mid-term evaluation of EU-funded project, Brussels Juli 2008
• Scientific evaluator in Bruxelles for EU-frame Work Five in 2000 and 2001

Other evaluation committees and boards

• Scientific international evaluator for Georgia National Science Foundation, 2009
• Scientific expert for evaluation of research proposal for Research Counsel in Flandern, Belgium, 2008.
• Member of expert panel for evaluation of 7 study programs offered by Department of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food Science, University of Life Sciences (UMB), Norway, November 2007.
• American Association of Cereal Chemists - international (AACC), European Section - Board member.
• International Association for Cereal Chemistry (ICC) - member of Executive Committee.
• Scientific committee for 2 ^ndInternational Symposium on Sourdough, Brussells; Belgium, 2003
• Chairperson for Conference program: Modern sourdough technology, Food Ingredients summit, London, 2001.
• Organising committee for 1 ^st Baltic Conference on Rye in the EU-context, Kaunas, Lithuania, 2001.
• Nordic Association of Agricultural Scientists, Food Section - Board member 1998-2004.
• Danish Cereal Society - Board member 1997-2006.
• Member of Scientific Advisory Board for Research School for Organic Agriculture and Food Systems, (SOAR) Denmark -board member.
• Education committee for the Department of Food Science, KVL from 1995 till now.
• Department of Food Science, KVL - board member2001-2004
• Organising committee for 27 ^th Nordic cereal conference: Cereals - Key crops for the future, Helsingore, Denmark 1999.
• Ph.D defence for Jeanette Purhagen Staling and starch retrogradation in speciality bread. Department of Food Technology, Engineering and Technology, Lund University, Sweden, 2011
• Ph.D.defence for Ann Katrin Holtekjølen, Variation in chemical constituents of barleyDepartment of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food Science, Agricultural University of Norway, Ås, Norge, 2005.
• Ph.D.defence for Pernille Nygaard Jensen, Oxidative Quality Changes in Dry Foods. Department of Food Science, KVL, Denmark, 2004, Chairman.
• Ph.D.defence for Anette Åmodt, Effect of wheat gluten quality and baking process on dough and bread characteristics. Department of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food Science, Agricultural University of Norway, Landbrugsuniversitetet, Ås, Norge, 2004
• Ph.D.defence for Lena Rimsten. Extractable Cell-Wall Polysaccharides in Cereals, with Emphasis on b -Glucan in Seed and Germinated Barley. Department of Food Science, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden, 2003.
• Ph.D.defence for Jesper Pram Nielsen. Fast quality assessment of barley and wheat. Department of Dairy and Food Science, KVL, Denmark, 2002, Chairman.
• Ph.D.defence for Kari Margrete Tronsmo. Wheat gluten proteins: analysis of properties and relation to baking performance. Department of Chemistry, Biotechnology and Food Science, Agricultural University of Norway, Ås, Norway, 2002.
• Ph.D.defence for Annica Anderson. Characterisation of Barley and Barley Fractions, with Emphasis on Dietary Fibre and Starch. Department of Food Science, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden, 1999.
• Ph.D.defence for Hanne Heimdal. Enzymatic browning of stored shredded lettuce. Department of Dairy and Food Science, KVL, 1995. Chairman.
• Ph.D.defence for Lisbeth Høj Johansen, Wheat endosperm protein analysis in relation to bread-making quality prediction, University of Aarhus and Pajbjerg Fund, Denmark, 1991.

 Invited lecturer

• Storage of Morama bean products. IUFoST 15th World Congress of Food Science and Technology, Cape Town, South Africa, August 22-26, 2010.
• Sourdough fermentation and bread quality. 7 ^th European Young Cereal Scientists and Technologists Workshop, Lithuania, May 19-21, 2008.
• Biochemical and physiological changes in sourdough and Shelf life and products Quality of sourdough bread. Wheat sourdough workshop. Papendrecht, The Netherlands, 12-13 November, 2007, arranged by AACC International.
• Influence of sourdough fermentation on rye bread quality. International ICC Conference on RYE, Bergholz-Rebrücke, Germany, 2007.
• Degradation of pentosans during sourdough fermentation. Forum Sauerteig II. Münster, Germany, Gesellschaft Deutscher Lebensmitteltechnologie, 2006.
• Quality traits important from breadmaking and brewing perspectives. Presentation given at CICSA (Crop Improvement for sustainable agriculture) workshop, Warsaw, Poland, 2004 .
• Aroma production during sourdough fermentation. Second International Symposium on Sourdough. From fundamentals to Applications. Brussels, Belgium, 2003.
• Crust and crumb flavour: characterization and contribution, AACC course in Advanced Cereal Science worldwide, "Understanding bread flavour" Leuven, Belgium, 18-19 March, 2002.
• Baking Quality of rye1 ^st Baltic Conference on Rye in the EU-context, Kaunas, Lithuania, 2001.
• Flavour in sourdough and sourdough bread. Food Ingredients summit, London, 2001.
• Flavour compounds in rye sourdough and rye bread. International rye symposium: Technology and products. Espoo, Finland 1995.