Per Ertbjerg is the head of the Meat Technology group. He has been at University of Helsinki since August 2011, first as a Professor, then as University Lecturer and since August 2017 as Associate Professor (tenure track to full professorship). He obtained his doctoral degree in Meat Science in 1996 from The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Denmark and since then held a teaching position first at The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, then at University of Copenhagen and later at University of Helsinki.

His research and professional interests include:

• Muscle and meat biochemistry
• Meat technology
• The relationship between meat tenderness and proteolytic processes
• Protein and lipid oxidation in meat and meat products
• The mechanisms of water-holding in meat

His present teaching activities include various courses in Meat Science and in Meat Technology.

PhD students:

Jian Lyu: The mechanisms of meat tenderisation

Yuemei Zhang: Effect of freezing on meat

Positions:

2017 - present: Associate Professor, University of Helsinki, Department of Food and Nutrition

2013 - 2017   University Lecturer, University of Helsinki, Department of Food and Environmental Sciences, Finland

2011  - 2013 (July)        Professor, University of Helsinki, Department of Food and Environmental Sciences, Finland

2000 – 2011 (July)  Associate Professor, Department of Food Science, LIFE, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

1996 - 1999               Assistant Professor, Department of Food Science, LIFE, University of Copenhagen

1993 - 1996               PhD, Department of Food Science, LIFE, University of Copenhagen

1992                            Research Assistant, Institute of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark