Joint Graduate School in Plant and Food Science
Functional foods and nutraceuticals
Find below a description of our research in this area, and a list of potential supervisers.
About our research in functional foods and nutraceuticals
Functional foods that are scientifically validated is a leading trend in major international markets. Plant & Food Research is using knowledge of the natural goodness from fruit, vegetable and grain crops, and from the sea, to create products that promote good health. Plant & Food research programmes combine research ability with commercial awareness to design and implement programmes that respond directly to market demand.
Specific work from The University of Auckland includes the use of new food ingredients and products based on milk proteins, antimicrobial properties of compounds in red wine, and techniques vital to the development of new products such as micro encapsulation, thermal and non-thermal processing of foods.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss graduate research opportunities in more detail, please email jgs-auckland@plantandfood.co.nz
Associate Professor David Christie
University of Auckland, School of Biological Sciences
Areas of supervision:
- Studies of membrane transporters required for uptake of nutrients, or that act metabolic sensors in relation to human nutrition
- Use of cultured mammalian neurons to identify nutriceuticals that may modify behaviour or enhance brain function
Professor Lynnette Ferguson
University of Auckland, School of Medical Sciences
Area of supervision:
- Gene-diet interactions in prostate cancer
- Role of dietary intervention in aggressive prostate cancer
- Gene-diet interactions in inflammatory bowel diseases
- Role of diet in mainetnance of remission in inflammatory bowel disease
Associate Professor David Greenwood
Plant & Food Research
The University of Auckland
Areas of supervision:
- Proteomics and metabolomics analysis of microbes, plants and animals
- Development of Systems Biology tools for analysis of metabolic pathways
- Chemical ecology of plants and animals
- Biosynthesis of natural products
- Development of high resolution mass spectrometry technologies
Dr John Ingram
Plant & Food Research
Areas of supervision:
- Regulation of food intake and energy balance in humans
- Role of taste receptors and nutrient transporters in nutrient sensing in the the GI tract
- Role of phytochemicals in modulating macronutrient absorption in the gut
- Adaptive response in humans to exercise and psychological and physical stress
- Modelling hormone secretion and neuroendocrine function
Associate Professor Paul Kilmartin
University of Auckland, School of Chemical Sciences
Areas of supervision:
- Wine maturation processes - aroma development and oxidation issues
- Harvesting effects on aroma profiles of New Zealand wines
- Development of sensor systems for beverage antioxidants
- Smart packaging for prolonging food and beverage shelf-life
- Interactions of antioxidant and aroma compounds with beverage polyphenols
Associate Professor Geoffrey Krissansen
University of Auckland, School of Medical Sciences
Email: gw.krissansen@auckland.ac.nz
Areas of supervision:
- Identification and application of food bioactives
- Functional foods and nutraceuticals
Dr Duncan McGillivray
University of Auckland, School of Chemical Sciences
Areas of supervision:
- Phospholipid interactions with antioxidants / proteins / ingredients
- Effects of pressure on protein structures
- Molecular structures of digestion mechanisms
- Oxidative damage to food
- Structural changes of food materials due to processing
Professor Conrad Perera
University of Auckland, School of Chemical Sciences
Areas of supervision:
- Chemistry and technology of food processing
- Development of functional food ingredients and their characterisation
- Optimisation of drying processes
- Physico-chemical modification of functional characteristics of food components
- Optimisation of juice procesing and juice characteritics
Dr Siew-Young Quek
University of Auckland, School of Chemical Sciences
Areas of supervision:
- Extraction and evaluation of bioactives from food including phytochemicals, marine lipid and nutraceutical
- Microencapsulation and bioactive delivery system using emulsion, liposome and drying techniques
- Flavour chemistry
- Processing, properties and quality of food (plant and seafood)
- Sensory properties of food and the relation to food ingredient, structure and flavour
Dr Doug Rosendale
Plant & Food Research
Area of supervision:
- Honey: NZ indigenous (manuka and other) honey analysis, composition, wound healing and antimicrobial activity
- Food-microbe-host interactions: how food such as dietary fibre, which escapes digestion and reaches the lower gastrointestinal tract, modulates growth of the gut microbiota, and how these and their metabolic byproducts in turn engage in cross-talking with the host to result in gut health changes
- High-throughput bioassays, predominantly focusing on bacterial growth, fermentation, enzyme activity and biotransformation of food and other natural compounds
Dr Daryl Rowan
Plant & Food Research
Areas of supervision:
- Metabolomics/metabolic profiling to understand plant responses using GCMS and LCMS
- Biomarker discovery and validation in animal/humans for validation of functional foods
- Flavour volatiles, key odorants in foods
- Biosynthesis using stable isotope labelling and GCMS and LCMS
Dr Viji Sarojini
University of Auckland, School of Chemical Sciences
Areas of supervision:
- Plant diseases: Fire Blight and Bacterial Canker of kiwi fruit
- Antimicrobial peptides to inhibit bacterial biofilms
- Model peptides with antiodixant properties
- Dietary amino acids and proteins
- Molecular mechanism of taste
Dr Arjan Scheepens
Plant & Food Research
Areas of supervision:
- 'Mood Foods' (functional foods that have an appreciable effect on mood in terms of reducing stress, increasing cognitive performance and energy)
- Neuro-active compounds from plants (including food crops, NZ native plants, and food industry waste streams)
- Drug-discovery research (using high throuput screening methodologies, activity guided fractionation, in vivo testing and human clinical trials)
- Functional foods (formulation, stability, and consumer acceptability)
- Bioavailability and pharmacokinetics of natural compounds (foucus on manipulation of xenobiotic processing machinery)
Professor Margot Skinner
Plant & Food Research
The University of Auckland
Areas of supervision:
- Immunonutrition, including inflammation
- Health benefits of fruit-based functional foods in areas of immune support and gut health
- Antioxidants and oxidative stress
- 'Wellness' benefits of food that consumers can perceive or 'feel'
- Foods for healthy ageing
Dr Bronwen Smith
University of Auckland, School of Chemical Sciences
Areas of supervision:
- Plant cell walls, including their composition and architecture, changes with development and influence on human health
- Food texture and microstructure, and breakdown of food in the mouth
- Plant foods in general
Dr Dongxiao Sun-Waterhouse
Plant & Food Research
Areas of supervision:
- Interactions between bioactive ingredients and other food components in consumer food systems
- Encapsulation technologies for bioactive ingredients
- Formulation and processing technologies for plant-based functional foods
- Industry-relevant preparation methods for natural dietary fibres
- Evaluation of the potential for food applications for ingredients from novel fruit and vegetable cultivars
Dr Jingli Zhang
Plant & Food Research
Areas of supervision:
- In Vitro evaluation of food ingredients for human health
- Evaluation of immunechemical biomarkers for human clinical intervention study
- Extraction, identification, and in vitro testing of biological activities of plant-based nutritional compounds
