Leonard Sagis

Leonard Sagis is an Associate Professor (dr.ir.) in the Physics and Physical Chemistry of Foods group within the VLAG Graduate School at Wageningen University & Research, the Netherlands. His work focuses on the fundamental physical chemistry governing food systems, particularly plant and dairy proteins, protein-polysaccharide interactions, and the interfacial behaviour of biopolymer solutions.

Research Interests:

• Food physics and physical chemistry
• Plant protein functionality and structuring
• Protein-polysaccharide complexation for improved foams and emulsions
• Surface and interfacial rheology of biopolymer layers
• Colloid stability and microstructure of food gels

His recent publications (2025) reveal a concentrated effort on understanding how protein source, pre-treatment and ionic environment modulate interfacial and gelation behaviour, with applications spanning plant-based dairy analogues, foam stabilisation and encapsulation systems.

Current PhD Supervision:

• H. Y. Lai – Micro-structure of plant-protein gels
• P. Boonkor – Tailoring pulse proteins for sustainable foods
• M. Xu – 3D/4D food printing of meta-foods
• W. Yin – Core-shell micro-encapsulation using plant proteins
• X. Ma – Stability of oil-water emulsions with plant protein-polysaccharide mixtures

Dr Sagis is actively involved in international networks and has delivered multiple keynote and invited lectures on non-equilibrium thermodynamic modelling of surface rheology and bio-interface engineering.