Join an ETH juniors project team and run a feasibility study for a fungal fermentation process.

Every brewery produces large amounts of spent grain which are protein- and fibre-rich but wet, perishable and today barely valorised. Our client wants to turn that side stream into food: fermented directly with edible filamentous fungi into a meat alternative, without drying it first.

For this, ETH juniors is looking for a Junior Scientist in Food Fermentation for a 6–9 month project. You design and run the fermentation trials, prove that a stable, safe and appealing product can be made, and prepare the ground for an industrial pilot. You work in an ETH juniors project team and report to the ETH juniors project lead, in close exchange with the company's process and fermentation experts, with clear go/no-go decision points along the way.

Your Tasks

Literature and regulatory review on fungal fermentation of brewer's spent grain and comparable fibre-rich cereal matrices
Strain selection: compare two to four food-grade strains (primarily Rhizopus oligosporus, with Aspergillus oryzaeas a benchmark) on taxonomy, history of use, safety data and availability
Raw material characterisation: water activity, moisture, pH, protein, fat, fibre, ash, particle structure and initial microbial load, including the effect of raw material age and transport time
Design and run a statistically sound screening (DoE) across strain, moisture content, temperature, fermentation time, inoculation, aeration and layer geometry
Analytics: composition before and after fermentation, protein functionality, microbiology, undesirable metabolites (rhizoxin, rhizonins, mycotoxins), texture measurement and structured sensory evaluation
Product development: build at least one prototype as a standalone meat substitute (burger, nugget, minced or pulled application) and one in which the ferment acts as a structure- and flavour-giving ingredient, benchmarked against unfermented spent grain and a tempeh or market reference

Requirements

Studies in Food Science, Biotechnology, Chemical and Bioengineering

Hands-on lab experience with fungal or microbial cultivation: strain handling, spore suspensions, inoculation, sterile technique

Practical food analytics: proximate analysis, pH, water activity, dry matter, plus microbiological safety testing (total plate count, Enterobacteriaceae, yeasts and moulds, Bacillus cereus)

Confident with design of experiments and statistical evaluation

Precise, reliable documentation and the ability to write for an industrial client, not only for an academic supervisor

Fluent in English, German is a strong asset

Interest in novel food regulation, sensory science or process scale-up

Self-driven and comfortable owning a project with real decision points, together with two team members

Benefits

Start: October/November 2026, after project kick-off with the client

Duration: 6–9 months, structured in phases with go/no-go decisions after each milestone

Location: on-site at the client

Workload: 40–60%

Hourly wage: CHF 40+

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