Wan Sin Heng (Valarie)
PhD Candidate

Wan Sin Heng (Valarie) is a PhD Candidate at the CASS Food Research Centre focusing on rapid detection of bacteria in contaminated foods using gas-chromatography using HS-GC x GC to identify microbial volatile compounds of bacteria (Escherichia coli) in food (UHT milk). The aim of her PhD is to reduce overall detection time for microbial detection and potentially develop a technique that is able to use in on-line processing in food industries for real-time pathogen detection. Her PhD is a continuation of her Honours project.
Wan Sin Heng has a Bachelor of Food and Nutrition science, Food science major (2017-2019, Deakin University) and a Bachelor of Nutrition science, Honours (2020, Deakin University). Honours title: Investigate the use of static headspace-comprehensive two-dimensional gas-chromatography (HS-GC x GC) in bacteria (Escherichia coli) detection in food (UHT milk). Wan Sin Heng is a 2019 CASS-Academy graduate.
Relevant research experience
- CASS academy-stream 2 (2019)
- Microbiology: Looking at the use of different essential oils in inhibiting bacteria growth
- Flavour analysis: Identifying the volatile compounds that helps in bacteria growth inhibition
Research interests & skills
- Food science
- Food safety
- Food microbiology
- Gas-chromatography
- Static-headspace