Professor Udenigwe is the holder of the University Research Chair in Food Properties and Nutrient Bioavailability. He holds his primary appointment at the School of Nutrition Sciences and a cross-appointment at the Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences, University of Ottawa. He is also a Faculty Affiliate at the Institute for Science, Society and Policy. He specializes in food biochemistry and his research takes the chemical sciences approach to explore the role of food proteins and peptides in health. His research group studies the chemistry and nutritional properties of food proteins/peptides and their food matrix interactions, bioaccessibility, bioavailability, and beneficial effects on metabolic health. They also study the use of bioinformatics in the design of peptide-based functional foods. His research covers other topics such as molecular behaviour of proteins in complex matrices, encapsulated nanostructures, nano-bio interactions, biomaterials, and proteins from emerging sources. He has received research funding from NSERC, CFI and MITACS, and holds an active NSERC Discovery grant.
He received his BSc in Biochemistry at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He received his MSc in Chemistry and Ph.D. in Food and Nutrition Sciences at the University of Manitoba, and was a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Guelph. In 2012, he was appointed an Assistant Professor at Dalhousie University where he was later promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2014. In 2016, he relocated to the University of Ottawa, and was also a visiting scientist at Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands. In 2019, he was a Carnegie African Diaspora Fellow at Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Nigeria.
He has published over 170 journal articles and book chapters, and is the Editor of “Food Proteins and Peptides: Emerging Biofunctions, Food and Biomaterial Applications” (2021, Royal Society of Chemistry, UK). He currently serves as Editor for Food Hydrocolloids for Health, Vice President of the Early Career Scientist Section of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology, member of the International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST) Taskforce on COVID-19 and the Global Food System, and member of journal editorial boards, grant/award selection and steering committees of professional societies. He is the recipient of the American Chemical Society–Division of Agricultural and Food Chemistry Young Scientist Award (2018), American Oil Chemists’ Society Young Scientist Research Award (2018), and IUFoST Young Scientist Award (2012). In 2021, Professor Udenigwe was elected to the Global Young Academy.