Pamela Bechara

I am a second-year PhD student in the Department of Food Science and Technology. I am originally from Lebanon and first studied Agricultural engineer at the Lebanese University, faculty of Agronomy in Beirut in which I obtained my diploma and eventually continued my education specializing in Food science and Technology and obtained my master’s degree. My master’s project focused on studying the microbial diversity of a traditional Lebanese fermented dairy product using microbiological and biomolecular methods which concluded with an excellent grade of 89/100 and 2 articles, one that has been published and a second one who’s still in the process of being published. During my education period at the university, I gained experience in the field of Agriculture engineering and specifically in Food Science through theoretical and applied analytical, technical, and methodological courses. These helped me get great job opportunities in the food industry in which I was able to apply the knowledge acquired through my years of study and which permitted me to gain practical experience and grow my skills in team collaboration, verbal communication, and project leadership. But working on my master’s project made me become particularly fascinated by the research field in which I’m currently in. My PhD research project is primarily focused on studying the microbial diversity of two Lebanese products, sourdough bread and a traditional monastic concentrated boiled wine using culture-dependent and culture-independent methods, while exploring, in parallel, the different practices for each product. We will also be selecting yeast strains from these ecosystems for further screening to test their capacity in industrial technological practices.