Dr. Keren Kles is a motivated food scientist with a strong background in food chemistry with great passion for “fun foods” and innovation, reaching back to family’s dessert factory. With experience in protein and ingredient functionality and in food texture modulation, Keren spearheads the technology development at Flying SpArk, a foodtech start-up company that makes protein powders, textured products and oil from insects.
In addition, Keren also teaches food science classes both at the Hebrew University and at the Tel Hai College. In her previous job, Keren worked at PepsiCo, where she focused on studying the effect of different processing conditions on multi-texture products. Keren also has academic food science research experience focusing on protein functionality and food physical chemistry; researching both food powders and porous materials and the functionality of whey proteins.
Keren holds a BSc in Biochemistry and Food Science from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a PhD in Food Science and Technology from University of California – Davis.