PhD Project: Bioinspired robotics to understand how food structure affects salivation, mastication, texture perception and swallowing.

French National Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE); France; On-site; EUR 21,000 - 26,000; Full time

Job summary

French National Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE) invites applications for a fully funded 3-year PhD project within the Sayfood unit at Université Paris-Saclay. A collaboration with Carole Prost at Oniris, Nantes, is envisaged.

The ideal candidate holds a master or engineering degree in Robotics, Mechanical, Chemical or Food Engineering. English fluency is required; significant instrumentation experience is expected.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience in instrumentation design.
• Experience in heat and mass transfer analysis or related simulations.

Responsibilities

• Develop sensors for real-time measurement of food and bolus properties during Food Oral Processing.
• Analyze literature on salivation, mastication and swallowing to guide experiments.
• Coordinate in vitro and in vivo measurements to calibrate the experiments.

Skills

Instrumentation design

Heat/mass transfer

Education

Master degree or equivalent

Job description

French National Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE)

Organisation/Company French National Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE) Research Field Engineering » Chemical engineering Engineering » Electronic engineering Researcher Profile First Stage Researcher (R1) Positions PhD Positions Application Deadline 10 Nov 2026 - 23:59 (Europe/Paris) Country France Type of Contract Temporary Job Status Full-time Offer Starting Date 1 Jan 2027 Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme? Not funded by a EU programme Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure? No

Offer Description

Context and Rationale

Various complementary in vitro approaches have been developed over the past ten years to study different aspects of Food Oral Processing (FOP), namely salivation, oral lubrication, and swallowing [1, 2, 4, 3, 5, 6]. This doctoral project aims to better understand the effect of food structure and acidity on salivation, mastication, bolus formation, texture perception and swallowing and to reproduce realistically and holistically these key mechanisms in vitro.

Project outline

This project will start with a complete analysis of the scientific literature on the mechanisms governing salivation, followed by the development of sensors for real-time measurement of food and bolus properties during Food Oral Processing. Such novel sensors will be used for a more realistic control of in vitro food oral processing. A sensory study and an in vivo characterization of the effect of different food products on salivation and bolus formation will also be performed and used to calibrate the in vitro food oral processing experiments. In vitro and in vivo measurements will be used to understand how food structure affects salivation, mastication, texture perception and swallowing.

Supervisory team, candidate profile and application process

This 3-year PhD project fully funded by Carnot Qualiment will be directed by Marco Ramaioli and Anne Saint-Eve at the research unit Sayfood, Université Paris-Saclay. A collaboration is also envisaged with Carole Prost [7] at Oniris, Nantes. The ideal candidate holds a engineering or master degree in Robotics, Mechanical, Chemical or Food Engineering. The recruitment will close once a suitable candidate is identified, and no later than November 6th 2026. Fluency in English is required, as well as significant previous experience in instrumentation.

References

[1] Marconati M., In vitro models for the formulation of easy-to-swallow products, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) thesis, University of Surrey,(2020), DOI: https://doi.org/10.15126/thesis.00851680

[2] Lavoisier A., Avila-Sierra A., Timpe C., Kuehl P., Wagner L., Tournier C., Ramaioli M., A novel soft robotic pediatric in vitro swallowing device to gain insights into the swallowability of mini-tablets, International journal of pharmaceutics, 629, 122369, (2022).

[3] Avila Sierra A., Ramaioli M., Decerle, N., Peyron, M.-A., Effect of salivary fluid characteristics on the physical features of in vitro bread bolus: from the absence of saliva to artificially simulated hypersalivation, Food Research Intl., 175, 113753, (2023).

[4] Bugarin-Castillo Y., Fadel P.B., Saint-Eve A., Ramaioli M., Mathieu V ., Using a natural salivary substitute to improve the swallowability of semi-solid foods: an in vitro and in vivo study, Food Hydrocolloids, 110351, (2024).

[5] Avila-Sierra A., Bugarin-Castillo Y., Glumac M., Bussière J., Saint-Eve A., Mathieu V., Kobayashi Y., Ramaioli M., A first-of-its-kind 3D biomimetic artificial mouth capable of reproducing the oral processing of soft foods, Scientific Reports, 14(1), 22908 (2024).

[6] Avila-Sierra A., Bussière J., Mathieu V., Saint-Eve A., Peyron M-A., Kobayashi Y., Ramaioli M., A Biomimetic Hybrid Soft/Rigid Robotic Masticator Simulating Oral Processing of Solid Foods, Food Research International, 222(2), 117802 (2025).

[7] Poinot P., Arvisenet G., Grua-Priol J., Fillonneau C., Prost C., Use of an artificial mouth to study bread aroma, Food Research International, 42, 5-6, 717-726, (2009).

Requirements

Research Field Engineering Education Level Master Degree or equivalent

Skills/Qualifications

Demonstrated experience in instrumentation design and heat/mass transfer.