Dr. Alaa Jabbar Abd Al-Manhel obtained a Master's (2004) and a Doctoral degree (2011) from the Department of Food Science, Agriculture College, University of Basrah. He also obtained a Ph.D. in Biotechnology, working on the topic “Purification, Characterization, and Immobilization of β-galactosidase produced from the mold Aspergillus oryzae by solid-state fermentation and its applications in some dairy products”. Since 2002, he has been working at the Agriculture College, the University of Basrah, Basrah City, Iraq. His research interests include food science, biotechnology, fungi, fermentation, enzymes, the encapsulation of bioactive functional foods, chitosan, and biofilm.