Gail Bornhorst

Dr. Gail Bornhorst is a Professor in the Departments of Biological & Agricultural Engineering and Food Science & Technology at the University of California, Davis. Her research focuses on quantitative methods to understand material transport, breakdown, and absorption in the gastrointestinal tract, aiming to improve food safety, quality, consumer health, and food processing efficiency. Her lab develops next-generation dynamic in vitro models to study digestion mechanics, food structure impacts, and processing effects on nutrient release.

Research interests include:

• Food digestion dynamics (mechanical breakdown, acid/moisture uptake)
• Development of predictive gastric digestion models
• Impact of food structure on digestion kinetics and nutrient bioavailability
• Optimization of food processing techniques for health benefits

Her work spans interdisciplinary applications such as:

• Plant breeding evaluations using digestion models
• Food waste valorization (e.g., Brazil nut byproducts)
• Protein gel innovation (pea/whey hybrids)
• Antioxidant bioavailability enhancement

Key contributions include frameworks to correlate in vitro digestion results with in vivo outcomes, and advancements in understanding starch/protein hydrolysis mechanisms. Her lab collaborates on engineering digestion simulators and applying advanced imaging techniques (e.g., micro-CT) to track food breakdown in real-time.