NDSU Department of Plant Sciences cereal science students, faculty and research staff were actively involved in the Cereals and Grains Association annual meeting Nov. 3-5. The association, formerly known as the American Association of Cereal Chemists International, held its annual meeting in Denver.
Participants included scientists and food industry professionals, who shared their cutting-edge research and innovative technologies.
NDSU graduate students and research staff shared their research through poster presentations.
• Abdulrahman Alahmed, doctoral student, presented “Effect of pre-harvest desiccant application on properties of B-glucan from oat groats.” Alahmed’s poster was selected as a finalist for the Carbohydrate Division poster competition.
• Supun Fernando, doctoral student, presented “Effect of polyphenols on functional and rheological properties of black bean protein isolates.”
• Haiyang Jiang, doctoral student, presented “Milling process and cultivars impact pea flour functionality and flavor profile.”
• Ana Magallanes López, doctoral student, presented “Varietal and location effects on antioxidant potential of pinto and black beans.”
• Kaitlyn Peterson, research staff, presented “Evaluation of glutopeak as a tool for screening North Dakota hard red spring wheat breeding lines.”
• Edil Vidal Torres, research staff, presented “Analysis of amaranth leaves and seeds grown in Puerto Rico” and “Micro and macromolecule composition of quinoa leaf and grain of three genotypes grown in Puerto Rico.”
• Serap Vatansever, doctoral student, presented “How does supercritical carbon dioxide and ethanol extraction influence the physicochemical properties of pea flour?” She also presented “Flavor Modification: A Novel Approach for Enhanced Organoleptic Property of Pea Flour,” which was selected as a finalist for the Engineering and Processing Division poster competition.
• Kristin Whitney, research staff, presented “Evaluation of hard red spring wheat flours by glutopeak at varied speed profiles.”
Senay Simsek, Bert L. D'Appolonia Cereal Science and Technology of Wheat Endowed Professor in Plant Sciences, organized and co-moderated two symposiums. The first symposium, “Modified Starch: structure, production, utilization and sustainability,” discussed physical starch modification, the relation of starch structure and its function and sustainable starch modification processes. Simsek was one of five expert speakers with her presentation, “Introduction to modified starch: examples, pros and cons.”
The second symposium organized by Simsek and co-moderated by Magallanes López was “A 360-degree approach: Arabinoxylans from genes to gut,” which focused on the genetics of arabinoxylans and their fate during milling and baking processes up to the human and animal digestive tracks. During this session, Simsek presented “Arabinoxylan: A versatile cereal polysaccharide.”
Simsek also was an invited speaker for the “Glyphosate and cereal grains: separating the wheat from the chaff” session, where she presented “Impact of pre-harvest glyphosate use on wheat protein composition.”
Vatansever served as co-moderator for the “Challenges and solutions for making proteins claims” symposium.
In addition, two NDSU cereal science graduate students served as officers in the Cereals and Grains Association Student Association. Vatansever was the association Secretary-Treasurer, and Magallanes López was the Product Development Competition Vice-chair. Magallanes López was selected as the student representative of the Protein Division for 2019-2020.
