Dairy ingredients are broadly employed in food formulations, not only because of their beneficial nutritional attributes, but also for their ability to form functional structures in foods. Proteins and phospholipids adsorb at interfaces, protein aggregate form aggregates and gel networks, and lipid fractions form droplets that impart creamy structures. Fine-tuning the dynamics of the interaction through processing will result in better, more functional ingredients or food products of optimal texture and structure with clean labels. Key to understanding how to control the dynamics is a study of the changes in the structure-function relationships of dairy components during processing.
In this project, you will focus on investigating relevant industrial problems related to how dairy components interact with themselves during their concentration, fractionation, and while used in new formulations in foods. Through research, you will learn about dairy proteins, lipids and carbohydrates, and the mechanisms underpinning their structure changes during processes such as membrane filtration, heating, homogenization, and ultrasonication.
During this project, you will utilize advanced analytical methods (Chromatography, Electrophoresis, and many high resolution hyphenated techniques, MS, UV, fluorescence) as well as physical methods such as light scattering, rheology, and microscopy.
