Rafael V. M. Freire is a postdoctoral researcher in the Self-Organizing Soft Matter (SSM) Group at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). He is also involved with the Animal-free milk proteins program led by Wageningen University & Research. His research is focused on applying techniques such as X-ray and neutron scattering as well as super-resolution microscopy to study soft matter systems, with a special focus on food colloids. He is currently investigating the nanostructure of milk protein aggregates and how that translates into their properties, which can contribute to the design of future food materials, including animal-free alternatives to dairy products. His background in physical chemistry and colloids equips him to tackle scientific challenges creatively.

“Studying food as colloidal systems is a nice blend of fundamental and applied sciences”

Rafael V. M. Freire studied Chemistry at the Federal University of Pernambuco in Brazil,  where he obtained his master`s degree in 2019. He worked under Prof. Severino Junior's supervision on studying hydrogels and MOFs for drug delivery. During his studies, he also performed research as an exchange student at Monash University in Australia and EMPA in Switzerland. In 2024, he concluded his PhD degree in Chemistry at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. There, he worked under the supervision of Prof. Stefan Salentinig, investigating the self-assembly of polar lipids and their structural transformations during digestion. In 2024, he joined the group of Prof. Ilja Voets at TU/e as a postdoctoral researcher to study the colloidal behavior of native and recombinant milk proteins towards animal-free dairy products.