Mursleen Yasin is a Future Food Systems PhD student at Western Sydney University, under the supervision of Dr Sunil Panchal, a Senior Lecturer in Nutrition and Food Science.
Mursleen earned her Bachelor of Science and a Master’s (Hons) degree in Horticulture-Agriculture from the University of Agriculture Faisalabad in Pakistan. Her Master’s research focused on the extraction techniques and the antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of essential oils from Melaleuca alternifolia and Melaleuca bracteata.
Currently, Mursleen is pursuing a PhD under the ‘Capsaicinoids Recovery Project’ at the National Vegetable Protected Cropping Centre, located at Western Sydney University’s Hawkesbury campus. The aim of her research is to standardise a sustainable extraction technique for capsaicinoids from capsicum and chilli fruits and plant waste which can be easily adapted by growers in the future. Her thesis, titled “Characterisation of capsaicinoids from capsicums, chillies and greenhouse horticultural waste of these crops”, will lead to identifying the effective nutrient treatment for the optimum capsaicinoids concentration in Capsicum varieties and their growth, yield and physiology under protected cropping conditions. Plant waste is used to recycle the important secondary compounds and reduce its environmental impact.
“I would like to collaborate with the Pharmaceutical and Nutraceutical industries to encapsulate these capsaicinoids and make health beneficial products. Value addition of waste material will enable growers to earn secondary income from their usual crops” – Mursleen on her future hopes, relating to potential outcomes of the project.
