Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Our research is both basic and applied in nature, focusing on grain carbohydrates isolated from cereals like wheat and barley, and pulses like peas and lentils. Funds received from NSERC-Discovery program have been dedicated mostly toward starch research. Starch occurs in the form of granules in cereal and pulse grains, as well as in most tubers and roots. Our research has focused on better understanding how starches isolated from different plants vary in their characteristics. We study not only their native state, but also the many modified forms that are currently used in the food industry. We have helped to understand how starch structure, both at granular and molecular level, relates to its characteristics and possible functions in food. Over the past seven decades, starch chemistry s smallest crystalline structures. Our proposed research is a logical extension of our ongoing starch research program on starch nanotechnology. Our long term vision is to catalogue and broaden the data base for starch nanoparticles (SNP). This means measuring and better understanding the physical, chemical & functional characteristics of SNP, in order to facilitate future novel SNP food and non-food applications. We anticipate this could help the food industry use SNP to improve both practical aspects of food processing and food quality alike. Furthermore, this research will reinforce why a nanoscale structure-function focus is superior compared to the traditional microscale, granular focus of native and modified starches. The short term objectives are to study different techniques for SNP isolation from purified native starches involving enzymes and acids. These starches will be strategically selected from diverse plant origins representing different possibilities of starch composition and type of crystal structure. Also, the purified native starches will be modified by thermal & chemical treatments, individually or in combination. Subsequently for comparison, SNP will be isolated from native & modified starches and analyzed by same techniques as for native/modified granular starches. The effect of different isolation and modification techniques on the yield and characteristics of SNP isolated from different plant origins will be established. This SNP research will foster a more effective approach to add-value to starches isolated from Canadian grains, targeting novel applications in the food & industrial markets.