About the Project
During cooking, particularly baking, roasting and frying, potentially harmful compounds such as acrylamide, carboxymethyllysine and hydroxymethylfurfural can be produced by the Maillard reaction. A significant correlation has been found between ingested acrylamide and various medical conditions such as the development of glycation and inflammation associated diseases such as renal failure, diabetes, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease. The Maillard reaction is composed of a complex series of reactions, beginning with the reaction of an amine group and a carbonyl source, forming several key intermediates that lead to the formation of potentially harmful compounds. The formation of these potentially harmful Maillard Reaction End Products could be mitigated by the presence of polyphenols, which are known to be produced during food smoking processes. This work will establish which polyphenols are produced during a particular cold smoking regime and how they affect the formation of these harmful substances. Utilising a variety of analytical techniques (HPLC, GC-MS, and FT-IR) polyphenols, Maillard Reaction intermediates and end products will be characterised and quantified. All the generated data will be subject to statistical analysis using PLS and PCA to build, train and test a Chemometric model. This would allow the rapid evaluation of the levels of Millard Reaction products present within a sample and preclude the need for complicated and time-consuming analytical procedures.
This novel work has important implications for the food industry. The undesirable compounds produced by the Maillard reaction are not currently required to be monitored within the food industry. This may change in the near future as it is anticipated that these types of compounds will be subject to stricter guidelines. This work would offer through the Chemometric model, a rapid and reliable screening procedure for these compounds, particularly acrylamide.
Abertay’s PhD students are located in the Abertay Graduate School (https://www.abertay.ac.uk/research/the-graduate-school/) and have access to our dedicated study and social spaces – a forum in which you can meet, work and learn with other researchers and postgraduates from across the University. We provide training and professional development opportunities to our postgraduate community, and offer help with funding applications, placement opportunities, teaching support, public engagement and outreach activity.
Students will be expected to undertake limited teaching duties of no more than 70 hours a year. We provide training on this activity and it is a valuable part of career development.
Funding Notes
This PhD studentship provides a package valued at around £75,000. This includes a fully funded tax free stipend of £14,553 per year over 3 and a half years, tuition fees as well as a travel and equipment budget.