Delivery system Functionality of biopolymers Packaging
Food protein based delivery systems
In recent decades, there has been growing interest in development of delivery systems to incorporate the bioactive compounds in food products. The excellent functional properties of food proteins including emulsification, gelation, and water binding capacity, as well as their nutritional value and generally recognized as safe (GRAS) status, make them very useful as matrixes or co-materials for delivery systems. Compared to animal derived proteins, plant proteins are attractively inexpensive and abundant, and have the capability of yielding sustained release. However, there are still many challenges related to their relatively low-solubility and instability in aqueous systems. Our interests are screening appropriate plant protein sources, improving their surface properties, optimizing the formulations according to a specific application. We study protein-based delivery systems for a wide variety of bioactives including antimicrobials, phytochemicals, and anticancer drugs.
Project 1. Utilization of cereal proteins as encapsulants.
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Encapsulation of eugenol by self-assembly of NaCas and zein [link]. -
Encapsulation of curcumin in nanoparticles synthesized from proso millet protein and sodium caseinate.
Project 2. Tannic acid-protein complexes as potential encapsulation strategy.
Tannic acid, is a kind of polyphenol with abundant hydroxyl groups, showing strong interactions with macromolecules including polysaccharides, proteins and other synthetic polymers. The complexation of tannic acid with biopolymers can be beneficial to strengthen the network of biopolymer based nanoparticles. We are interested in optimizing the complex formulations of tannic acid with proteins and utlizaing them as potential delivery systems for bioactives and drugs.
Publications
Xie, L.; Wehling, R.; Ciftci, O.; Zhang, Y., Formation of complexes between tannic acid with bovine serum albumin, egg ovalbumin and bovine beta-lactoglobulin. Food Research International, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2017.10.007
Wang, L.; Zhang, Y., Eugenol nanoemulsion stabilized with zein and sodium caseinate by self-assembly. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2017, 65 (14), 2990–2998.
Wang, L.; Gulati, P.; Santra, D.; Rose, D.; Zhang, Y., Nanoparticles prepared by proso millet protein as novel curcumin delivery system. Food Chemistry 2018, 240, 1039-1046.