Projects
Peter Ruhdal Jensen , Ivan Mijakovic , Nina Aagaard Poulsen , Jing Che , Julia Prangchat Stub Thomsen & Lotte Bach Larsen
In order to increase available food for the growing world population and at the
same time reducing climate impact of its production, more sustainable sources of
food proteins are urgently needed. In this context microbial production systems
are promising solutions. However, animal-derived proteins often carry protein
decorations and modifications that gives the proteins special properties and
functionalities. These modifications, scientifically denoted post-translational
modifications (PTMs), are overall linked to more advanced biological systems, and therefore microbes, and especially bacteria, are less capable of
producing. This constitutes a major bottleneck for using microorganisms as the
efficient expression vehicles they actually are for eg the very valuable animal
coded proteins. However, if we can decipher and rank the importance of PTMs
including essential sites and amount or degree of modification at each of these
sites are essential for protein functionality we can reduce the complexity of this
task.
The DECIPHER project initiative aims to remove these bottlenecks associated
with microbial production of proteins related to the milk system – the caseins –
and investigate and hopefully demonstrate the possibility of modifying the bovine
caseins in vitro after their microbial synthesis, and produce protein food
ingredients with comparable nutritional and functional properties as their native,
true animally produced original counterparts.
Description
01/04-2022 → 31/03-2025
Lotte Bach Larsen , Nina Aagaard Poulsen , Søren Drud-Heydary Nielsen , Stine Brandt Bering & Thomas Thymann
Most infant formulas (IF) are based on processed milk proteins, consisting of bovine whey proteins added to skimmed milk powder to obtain whey/casein (CN) ratio of 60/40 to approach the ratio in human milk (HM). The project aims to clarify the potential benefits of gently-processed intact or hydrolyzed micellar casein isolate (MCI) in IFs and how they compare to HM in terms of mild gastric clotting for improved gut comfort and motility and the release of bioactive peptides for improved gut health. It is currently unknown how the widely studied rennet-induced coagulation of bovine milk in relation to cheese-making properties translates into clotting properties in the infant stomach. This is studied in the CASGUT project; by combinations of piglet studies and lab based pilot experiments in the context of the established CASGUT AU/UCPH project consortium. Description
01/09-2022 → 31/08-2025
Lars Wiking , Nina Aagaard Poulsen , Margrethe Therkildsen , Peter Lund , Christian Friis Børsting , Nicolaj I. Nielsen & Martin Øvli Kristensen
The project will form the basis for reducing methane emissions from cattle by 1 million tonnes of CO2 by 2030, corresponding to the government's agreement on the green transformation of Danish agriculture. The mean of action is the implementation of feed additives, feed materials and feeding strategies to reduce the methane emission from the cow.
Equipment will be installed to measure methane emissions from individual cows on several cattle farms. This will provide a unique trial setup to test and optimize the allocation of feed additives under practical conditions in order to achieve the greatest possible reduction in methane emissions, without affecting the cows' feed intake, milk yield, health or welfare. Furthermore, the project must ensure that the quality of the milk and meat is not impaired by the use of feed additives.
The project will provide a unique opportunity to bring the feed additives and feeding strategies closer to Danish farmers and companies and enable them to be the first worldwide to implement these strategies and additives in practice to reduce methane emissions
Description
01/01-2023 → 01/12-2025