Penn State student wins international award for sourdough microbiome research

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Quinn Burnett, a fourth-year food science student in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, was recognized for her research on how sourdough starter microbiomes affect the digestibility of breads at the IPA World Congress + Probiota 2026 conference earlier this year in Dublin.

Her abstract, titled “Distinct sourdough microbiomes alter FODMAPs of final breads,” was selected as the top-rated student-led research submission at the international conference, which brings together more than 500 leading scientists and industry professionals in the probiotics and microbiome space.

As part of this honor, Burnett was asked to speak at the conference as the 2026 Scientific Frontier Student Winner, where she shared her research with leading scientists and professionals in probiotics internationally. Burnett described the experience as one of the most memorable and rewarding experiences she’s ever had.

“The opportunity to travel internationally for the first time in my life in recognition of research I have worked so hard on and care so deeply about was incredibly meaningful,” she said. “This conference brought together so many inspiring people from both industry and academia, and it was an honor to share my work with and learn from such accomplished experts in the field.

As a student in the lab of Josephine Wee, associate professor of food science, Burnett studies how differences in sourdough starter microbiomes influences FODMAP degradation in final breads. In the laboratory, Burnett is mentored by Ashley Ohstrom, dual-title graduate student in food and microbiome sciences, the driving force behind her success, Wee said.

FODMAPs are an acronym for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols — naturally occurring carbohydrates found in foods such as fruit and vegetables, grains, nuts and legumes. In some people, the chemistry of these carbohydrates can be slow to digest and cause inflammation in the gut. This can cause digestive issues that range from bloating and discomfort to pain.

“She truly embodies the best of Penn State,” Wee said. “Quinn has shown exceptional curiosity and determination in tackling a question that is both scientifically complex and deeply personal. What’s especially exciting about her research is that it challenges common assumptions about sourdough. It shows that the microbes really matter and not all sourdough is created equal when it comes to digestibility."

Burnett said she was originally drawn to studying food microbiology and fermentation technology when she was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and placed on a low‑FODMAP diet before she started college.

“I will never forget standing in a grocery store with stapled packets of foods classified into categories of red, yellow and green, picking up product after product only to put each one back,” she said. “Everything I reached for contained ingredients that I suddenly couldn’t eat. I wanted to take that frustration and confusion I once felt and turn it into knowledge and accessibility.”

Quinn eventually enrolled in Penn State’s food science program to better understand food in a way that could genuinely help people, with an overarching goal of improving accessibility to low-FODMAP foods for individuals with digestive disorders.

This eventually led her to join Wee’s food mycology lab, which focuses on fermentation technologies in research like the sourdough project Burnett is currently working on. The research is investigating a number of functional attributes that may be impacted, or driven, by differences in sourdough starter microbiomes.

“Since I began working in the lab my junior year, microbiomes have always been the root of the project,” Burnett said. “I decided to look into a new aspect of the project, which was the FODMAP content of the sourdough breads made from distinct sourdough starters. Being able to study the very thing that inspired me to pursue food science in the first place is incredibly meaningful.

For the research, Burnett took 20 different sourdough starters, all of which had their own distinct microbiomes, and used each one to make dough and bake individual loaves of bread. After baking, the breads were cooled and freeze-dried for total FODMAP analysis, including the carbohydrates fructan, mannitol and fructose.

She found that while some of the starters produced breads that had fructan levels low enough to be considered low-FODMAP, others created breads that would be considered high-FODMAP.

Burnett described the research being selected as the top-rated abstract as a complete shock, and she said she remembered doing a few double-takes when she received the email with the news.

“Once the shock subsided, it was such a rewarding and inspiring honor,” she said. “I am so passionate about the research I do, and the fact that others believe it is as promising as I do is such an amazing feeling. I’ll begin my Ph.D. in food science later this fall, so the honor was inspiring and made me so excited for everything that lies ahead.”

Burnett has also been selected as a University Graduate Fellow and will begin her doctoral studies this fall with Wee and Darrell Cockburn, an expert in carbohydrate chemistry and gut microbiomes.