This research theme addresses one of the most important scientific challenges for optimising the nutritional value of sustainable foods, by unpacking the hierarchy of complex structures occurring in foods and their modifications during processing and gastrointestinal digestion. Crucially, this theme will integrate advanced computational and mathematical modelling and human clinical studies with food structure and digestion science to provide advanced knowledge to completely transform current food design processes and food dietary guidelines, to ultimately give rise to a range of high value healthy foods. There are three research projects under this theme:
Project 1.1: Food structure design for optimal nutrient delivery
Project leaders Dr A Acevedo-Fan, Prof Mark Waterland and Dist Prof Harjinder Singh
This project aims to provide an integrated approach to understanding the assembly of the hierarchical structures present in foods, and how such structures determine food properties and digestive behaviours. The project will also provide underpinning knowledge on existing and new food materials and develop advanced analytical tools for food material characterisation.
Project 1.2: The Human Digestome – an integrated model of the human gastrointestinal tract
Project leaders Prof Leo Cheng and Prof Gail Bornhorst
This project will develop the Human Digestome – integrated models of the human gastrointestinal tract (GIT). Two parallel integrated systems will be developed.
- A series of physical simulators of parts of the GIT that subject foods to in vitro digestion conditions that mimic the in vivo environment including the mouth, stomach, and small intestine.
- A series of computational models of parts of the GIT, enabling the in silico representation of key digestive processes including GIT motility, gastric emptying, macronutrient hydrolysis, and food breakdown behaviour
