Improving the performance of bacteriocins as natural food additives through the use of nanotechnology.

One of the major challenges to modern food industry is the demand by consumers of products that look appealing for longer periods of time and the preference by consumers for minimally processed products that do not contain “chemical” preservatives. This has encouraged the uses of natural preservatives such as Nisin. However, these natural preservatives have limited shell-live and can be easily degraded. As such, there is a need to develop novel formulations for these natural food preservatives, to improve their stability and increase their spectrum of application, as additives in both food and packaging.
In this project we are looking for a highly motivated student to work at the interface between polymer chemistry, surface-science and microbiology. In the first stage of the project, we will develop formulation that can prevent exogenous degradation of these natural preservatives. These formulations will be tested both in solution and on surfaces. In a second stage of the project, we will optimise these formulations to modulate the release of these food-preservatives. This project is highly multidisciplinary and involves a collaboration between the Schools of Chemistry (Dr F. Fernandez-Trillo), and Chemical Engineering (Dr Z. J. Zhang and Dr Kostas Gkatzionis)
For further details about the project, please contact Dr Fernandez-Trillo ([Email Address Removed]).