Project Contacts
General Research Areas
- Starch
- Carbohydrate chemistry
Specific Research Areas
- Starch granule structure, reactivity, and behavior
- Chemical and biological modifications of starch
- Structure-functional property relationships of polysaccharides
- Mono- and oligosaccharide chemistry
- Uses of carbohydrates in food and other commercial applications
General Research Areas
- Process modeling
- Rheology
- Material structure and texture
- Extrusion
Specific Research Areas
- Application of rheology to food science and food engineering
- Mathematical modeling of food process operations
- On-line rheological techniques
- Rheology of biomaterials
- Dough rheology
- Rheology of dairy products
- Characterization of material structure and texture; relationship to rheological properties
- Effect of glass transition on product texture
- Extrusion; role of rheology in the extrusion process
General Research Areas
- X-ray diffraction
- Molecular architecture of biopolymers
Specific Research Areas
- Starch crystallinity
- Conformation of carbohydrates and nucleic acids
- Structure-function relationships in polysaccharides and polysaccharide mixtures
- Implementation of modern techniques to fiber diffraction
Director of Whistler Center for Carbohydrate Research
(765) 494-5668
General Research Areas
- Carbohydrates and health
- Starch
- Cereal chemistry
Specific Research Areas
- Manipulation of starch digestion rate for low glycemic response/slow digestion
- Dietary fiber, modifications in functionality and fermentability, microbiota changes
- Cereal starch and protein functionality
- Textural properties influenced by starch fine structure
- Interactions between starch and other food components
- Appropriate methods of improving cereal utilization in developing countries
- Cereal endosperm texture
- Electron and confocal microscopy of cereal components
General Research Areas
- X-ray crystallography
- Biopolymers structure and functionality
Specific Research Areas
- Molecular structure, junction zone details of polysaccharides and polysaccharide blends and relationships to macroscopic behavior
- Molecular dynamics simulations
- Developing novel and cost effective delivery systems using food hydrocolloids
- Tailoring polysaccharide structures for improved functionality
- Biotexture of plant tissue derivatives
- Starch crystallinity
- Structure-function relationships in biomaterials
Managing Director of Strategic Planning and Research Communication
765-496-7849
General Research Areas
- Carbohydrates and health
- Starch chemistry
- Polysaccharides chemistry
Specific Research Areas
- Starch digestion at human small intestinal digestive enzymes level
- Starch utilization system of human colon bacillus
- Influence of starch hydrolysis on human oral biofilm formation
- Develop modified starch for controlled digestibility
- Internal structure of starch granule and fine structure of starch molecules
- Polysaccharide structure and functionality
General Research Areas
- Food chemistry
- Water-solid interactions
Specific Research Areas
- Structure-function relationships of food ingredients
- Deliquescence
- Glass transition
- Moisture sorption
- FT-IR spectroscopy method development
General Research Areas
- Emulsions and foams
- Biopolymer interactions
Specific Research Areas
- Stability and texture of food emulsions and foams
- Adsorption of proteins and protein-polysaccharide complexes at interfaces
- Functional properties of proteins and protein-polysaccharide complexes
- Physical and chemical modification of proteins for use as food stabilizers
- Rheology of polysaccharide solutions and gels
General Research Areas
- Polysaccharide analysis
- Plant cell wall compositions, structures, and functions
- Bacterial cell wall compositions, structures, and functions
Specific Research Areas
- Extractions and purification of acidic polysaccharides from cell walls of plants and bacteria
- Pectin analysis
- Capsule, gum, and lipopolysaccharides analysis
- Application of HPLC, GC-MS, and NMR to structural studies of carbohydrates, including polysaccharides
- Role of polysaccharides in bacteria-legume symbiosis
- Detection of bacteria in plant roots
General Research Areas
- Plant classical and molecular genetics
- Protein structure and function
- Gene expression
- Large-scale forward and reverse genetics screening
- Genome maintenance and organization
- Genomics of starch digestion, composition and architecture
Specific Research Areas
- Rational redesign of corn starch composition
- Computer modeling of starch synthases
- Mutational analysis of starch biosynthesis in corn and E. coli
- Genetic modification of corn starch properties
General Research Areas
- Carbohydrate chemistry and metabolism in plants
- Processing of biobased materials
Specific Research Areas
- Genetic, enzymatic, and chemical starch modifications
- Maize breeding for targeted starch structure and function
- Switchgrass carbohydrate metabolism
- Co-products of the corn refining and ethanol industries
- Behavior of oligo- and polysaccharides in foods
- Controlled-release system