Akuleti Saikumar was awarded an AJ Banks Travel Bursary to attend the 25th IAPRI World Packaging Conference in China in June 2026. Here he tells us about his highlights from the conference and his online presentation.
"During the conference, I presented an online oral talk titled "Electrospun Mucilage/PVA Nanofiber Mats with ZnO Nanoparticles and Anthocyanins for Active & Intelligent Food Packaging." In brief, my research focuses on valorising underutilised elephant apple (Dillenia indica L.) as a non-conventional source of biopolymers for the extraction of mucilage from the gelatinous pulp of the fruit and biosynthesis of ZnO nanoparticles using outer sepals of the fruit, to develop electrospun mucilage/PVA nanofiber mats reinforced with ZnO nanoparticles and black rice bran anthocyanins serving as a pH-sensitive freshness indicator. The work demonstrated the promise of these materials for monitoring fish fillet spoilage through visible colour changes for supporting safer food quality assessment.
"I sincerely thank the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) and acknowledge the AJ Banks Travel Bursary for their generous support, which enriched my understanding of current developments in packaging research and strengthened my doctoral work. I also express my gratitude to the Department of Food Engineering and Technology, Tezpur University, my supervisor Dr. Laxmikant S. Badwaik, and my co-authors Kaushik K. Nath and Dr. Gazi Ameen Ahmed for the AICTE Doctoral Fellowship to carry out this research.
"The conference provided useful feedback and added valuable direction to my ongoing research."
Akuleti Saikumar
PhD researcher
Tezpur University (A Central University), India.
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