Starch is one of the most abundant carbohydrate polymers on the globe, comprising a massive reservoir of renewable energy, nutrition and raw material. Together with its properties, this has led to the large scale exploitation of starch in many industrial applications and an increasingly high market share of starch degrading enzymes. Despite their chemical simplicity, starches from different sources have highly diverse morphology, rheology, and biophysical properties. An understanding of how different enzymes interact in concert with starch and modify it on the molecular level will help realise the large potential for novel applications and forms of starch and starch-based materials. One of our objectives is to understand the basis for interactions between starch and starch-acting enzymes, and starch-binding domains. Other projects involve discovery and activity of dietary fibre-active enzymes and release of aroma compounds from food matrices after rational manipulation by enzymes.
For detailed project information, please contact Professor Birte Svensson () or Associate Professor Maher Abou Hachem ().
