Agon Besimi
Agon Besimi
Student / Programme Doctorate at D-HEST
Additional information
Research area
Micronutrient deficiencies continue to be a global public health problem. Iron deficiency,in particular, is the most prevalent nutrient deficiency worldwide, affecting more than 2 billion people. Microalgae are small unicellular microorganisms with high amounts of minerals that are continuously attracting attention as a more sustainable novel food. Hence, microalgae could be an important mineral feedstock for humans that has not been well explored. Agon works on understanding the absorption of micronutrients from microalgae in human cells within the Microalgae in Human Nutrition and Health R&D led by Dr. Fengzheng Gao. His project belongs to a joint strategic research line between the Sustainable Food Processing Laboratory and the Laboratory of Nutrition and Metabolic Epigenetics at ETH Zurich.
Additional information
Agon has a bachelor's degree (2015-2019) in Human Nutrition and Dietetics obtained from the Hacettepe University (Ankara, Turkey). He has clinical experience as a dietitian in hospitals, community health centers, and clinical practice. After getting his bachelor's degree he went to Gent University (Ghent, Belgium) for a research internship (2020) in public health nutrition. Agon completed his master's program (09/2020-03/2023) in ETH Zurich (Zurich, Switzerland), where he was awarded the Excellence Scholarship from the ETH Zurich foundation. He majored in Human Nutrition and Health and had a minor in Consumer Behavior and Sensory Science. His master thesis focused on developing oral micronutrient supplements with additive manufacturing. After finishing his master's thesis, Agon worked as research on investigating the nutritional properties of microalgae (2022-2023) at the Sustainable Food Processing Laboratory, ETH Zurich. Afterwards, Agon did an internship (04/2023 – 09/2023) on micronutrients in Nestlé Research (Lausanne, Switzerland). In January 2024, Agon started his new role at ETH Zurich as a doctoral candidate.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/agonbesimi/