Assistant Professor
Colorado State University
Dr. Charlene Van Buiten is an Assistant Professor of Food Science in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Colorado State University. Dr. Van Buiten’s research group, the Food Structure & Function Lab, uses a multidisciplinary approach to study nutrient interactions and their influence on food quality and healthfulness. Specifically, the Food Structure & Function Lab seeks to use nutrient interactions and processing to enhance the nutritional functionality of plant-based foods including wheat, berries, tea, and plant protein isolates. The Food Structure & Function Lab is proud to be supported by grant funding from the USDA-NIFA (Novel Foods & Innovative Manufacturing Technologies), Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station and California Table Grape Commission.
Dr. Van Buiten holds a bachelor’s degree in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Connecticut and a Ph.D. in Food Science from Pennsylvania State University. During her Ph.D., she was awarded a USDA Predoctoral Fellowship for her research on nutraceutical therapies for celiac disease. Prior to beginning her current position at Colorado State, Van Buiten completed a postdoctoral fellowship in botanical therapies for metabolic syndrome at Rutgers University supported by the NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Charlene has been a member of ASN 2016 and served as the chair of the Dietary Bioactive Components GEM from 2021 to 2023.