Q. Please tell us about yourself. What brought you to your current position?
I am an application chemist at Elementar Americas. I have a bachelor’s degree in engineering chemistry and a master’s in technological systems management from Stony Brook University, New York.
I developed a strong interest in analytical chemistry and instrumentation during my studies. I wanted to combine my chemistry background with practical applications and work directly with analytical instruments. That’s what brought me to my current role at Elementar, where I work with customers, applications, and elemental analysis technologies.
Q. What is your favorite part of the work you’ve done in this field?
It is solving our customers’ analytical research problems. I’m interested in understanding their goal and the associated challenges, and finding the right analytical approach to achieve expected results. The process of designing a quick, reliable, and reproducible solution to complex analytical problems excites me. I’m particularly interested in elemental and protein analysis—it’s interesting to see how one technique can be applied to a variety of samples.
Q. What is your talk about?
My talk discusses how fast, reliable, and efficient protein analysis can help modern food laboratories meet the evolving food industry demands. I use examples of different food products to show why protein determination is important across the stages of the food industry—from raw materials and processing to finished products and consumer labeling. I also discuss the Dumas and Kjeldahl methods, comparing their accuracy, repeatability, safety, analysis time, and throughput.
I also highlight how the food industry is changing, with increasing sample volumes, new food products, higher efficiency expectations, and evolving regulations.
Q. Why do you think it’s important to discuss this topic with our audience?
Protein analysis is relevant to many researchers and laboratories in the food industry. Food testing labs are now dealing with new food products and a growing variety of plant-based and alternative proteins. Researchers and lab managers need to understand the different methods available and how to choose the one that best fits their laboratory needs. Factors such as accuracy, speed, safety, throughput, and ease of operation can all be important when selecting a protein analysis method.
Food testing laboratories are under increasing pressure to work more efficiently while still providing reliable results. The industry, as a whole, can benefit from smarter protein analysis.
Navid Alam is an application chemist at Elementar Americas, where he works on analytical chemistry applications supporting elemental analysis, including nitrogen and protein determination. He holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering chemistry from Stony Brook University and a master’s in technological systems management, bringing hands-on laboratory experience in regulated analytical testing, quality control, and quality assurance.
Register today for free to attend Navid’s and other insightful webinars at the 2026 LabXpo Food Safety Testing & Quality Assurance digital event.
