| Academic qualifications:
 PhD, Nutrition and Food Sciences, 1984; Utah State University (dissertation: Evaluation and Improvement of Coagulation Properties of Milk for Manufacturing)
MS, Nutrition and Food Sciences, 1983; Utah State University (thesis: Variations in Coagulation Properties of Milk from Individual Cows)
BS, Microbiology, 1978; University of Nigeria (Plan A thesis: Pathogenic Bacteria and Fungi of the Mosquito Larvae)
Dr. Leslie M. Nsofor (formerly Okigbo) is the Owner/Founder of Lensof Konsult LLC. He was the Research Director and Deputy CEO of Soy Ultima LLC, and presently is the Soy Applications Consultant, co-founder and co-owner of same, a soy products research and development startup, with address at 1501 North Shore Drive, Suite C, East Lansing, Michigan 48823. Dr. Nsofor's research on soybean utilization for food and beverage manufacture spans 23 Years in Africa and the United States. His academic and research career took birth at Utah State University in 1984 as a post doctoral research fellow focused on the development and evaluation of a milk coagulation measuring instrument for industrial cheese manufacture. A United States patent was later awarded to Dr. Nsofor's doctoral and post-doctoral research supervisor for this instrument. He had the same year completed a Ph.D. degree in food science in the same department. His dissertation was on the improvement of chymosin-coagulation properties of poor/non-coagulating milk from individual cows in which the proteins had been naturally hydrolyzed by endogenous blood/milk enzymes. His research curiosity on soybean processing and utilization was kindled during his post-doctoral studies when he investigated non-coagulability of chymosin-treated soy powder for possible substitution as calf milk replacer when mother-cow was undergoing antibiotic therapy for mastitis.
During his doctoral/post-doctoral studies (1982 - '85), Dr. Nsofor provided research consultancy services to three U.S. companies on dairy instrumentation development and evaluation ( conductivity meter, Mas-D-Tec { www.wescor.com } - published in the Journal of Dairy Science [1984] 67:1510), cheese starter culture activity evaluation and cold-storage effects on clotting properties of cheese-making milk (Nordica International, Inc), and impedance instrument (bactometer) adaptation for water quality evaluation (Bactomatic Inc). Later in his career, after serving in 3 Nigerian universities as a teacher and researcher in food science for 11 years, Dr. Nsofor rose to the rank of Associate Professor of Food Science and Associate Dean of Agriculture in 1996 at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), Nigeria. While serving at FUTO, he was among the 4 renowned scientists selected by the Vice Chancellor (President) who presented technological inventions of that university to the Nigerian news media in July 1997. Dr. Nsofor's presentation on soy beverage technology formed the bedrock of today's Soy Ultima LLC. He had earlier revised the Draft Standards for Soybean-based Beverages for the Standards Organization of Nigeria (an agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria).
Before these developments at FUTO, he served as the pioneer Acting Coordinator (Head of Department) of the newly created Food Science Department at Imo State University, Okigwe, Nigeria in 1990, a position he held for two years before transferring his service to FUTO. Dr. Nsofor has an impressive pool of scientific publications in peer reviewed international journals on enzymic coagulation of milk for cheese manufacture, and soybean processing for food, beverage and dairy analogs applications, including cultured soy products. In addition to his responsibilities at Soy Ultima, he holds the position of Adjunct Associate Professor at Michigan State University's Food Science and Human Nutrition department since 1999 where his pilot plant manufacturing and research studies on bioactivity enhancement of soy products has produced two U.S. patents, and a European patent on the development of predigested whole soybean base with applications to food and beverage products. The ongoing soy products commercialization efforts at Soy Ultima stems from Dr. Nsofor's research direction and include the industrial spray drying of enzyme hydrolyzed whole soybean flour. Spray dried organic whole soy powder varieties also have been manufactured by Soy Ultima from enzyme treated and non-enzyme treated organic soy flours. Dr. Nsofor's present research emphasizes bioprocessing whole soy matrix for bioactive peptides production and overall enhancement of antioxidant properties and biological activities. He is also developing processing equipment for optimized soybeans, legumes and cereals germination for nutraceuticals and bioactive compounds production. His biography was published in the Marquis Who's Who in America (2004 edition) and Marquis Who's Who in the World (2005 edition), and he is a member of the New York Academy of Sciences, professional member of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) and member of American Soybean Association (ASA).
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Dr. Leslie Nsofor
Co-developer of the
curd tension monitor (vatimer)
(published in the Journal of Dairy Science [1985] 68:32)
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