Understanding the fundamental characteristic variations among starch nanoparticles from different botanical origins isolated by a combination of physical, chemical and enzymatic techniques

我们的研究在本质上是基础和应用的，重点是从小麦和大麦等谷物中分离出的谷物碳水化合物，以及豌豆和扁豆等豆类。从NSERC-Discovery项目获得的资金主要用于淀粉研究。淀粉以颗粒的形式存在于谷物和豆类中，也存在于大多数块茎和根中。我们的研究重点是更好地了解从不同植物中分离出来的淀粉在它们的特性上是如何变化的。我们不仅研究它们的原生状态，还研究目前在食品工业中使用的许多改性形式。我们已经帮助理解了淀粉结构在颗粒和分子水平上与它在食物中的特性和可能的功能之间的关系。在过去的七十年里，淀粉化学和技术在分子水平上对淀粉颗粒结构的理解取得了巨大的进步。因此，在食品和非食品领域的多种应用已经出现，但大多数集中在颗粒水平或微观尺度上操纵淀粉结构。淀粉纳米技术的最新进展表明，在纳米水平上操纵淀粉可以实现更多的多样性和可预测的结果和效用。这个尺度代表了淀粉颗粒的最小晶体结构。我们提出的研究是我们正在进行的淀粉纳米技术研究计划的合理延伸。我们的长期愿景是编目和扩大淀粉纳米颗粒（SNP）的数据库。这意味着测量和更好地了解SNP的物理，化学和功能特性，以促进未来新的SNP食品和非食品应用。我们预计这将有助于食品行业使用SNP来改善食品加工和食品质量的实际方面。此外，这项研究将进一步说明为什么纳米尺度的结构功能焦点优于传统的微尺度、颗粒状的天然和改性淀粉焦点。短期目标是研究从纯化的天然淀粉中分离SNP的不同技术，包括酶和酸。这些淀粉将战略性地从不同的植物来源中选择，代表不同的淀粉组成和晶体结构类型的可能性。此外，纯化的天然淀粉将通过单独或联合的热和化学处理进行改性。随后，为了进行比较，我们将从天然淀粉和改性淀粉中分离SNP，并采用与天然/改性颗粒淀粉相同的技术进行分析。不同的分离和修饰技术对从不同植物来源分离的SNP的产量和特性的影响将被确定。这项SNP研究将培养一种更有效的方法来增加从加拿大谷物中分离出来的淀粉的价值，目标是在食品和工业市场上的新应用。

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 & technology has made enormous progress toward understanding starch granule architecture at the molecular level. Consequently, multiple applications in the food & non-food areas have emerged, but most focusing on manipulating starch structure at the granular level or microscale. Recent advances in starch nanotechnology show that more diversity and predictable outcomes and utilities can be achieved by manipulating starch at the nanoscale level. This scale represents starch granule'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.