Utah State University College of Agriculture 2011 Undergraduate research Mentor of the Year

At the College of Agriculture awards presentation on September 15, 2011 Dr. Silvana Martini was honored as the 2011 Undergraduate Research Mentor of the Year.   Since 2006 Dr. Martini has been expanding her program for undergraduate food science student to gain experience in her world class research lab.  “Students that have had practical experience starting as an undergraduate have more to offer employers and are more likely to continue with graduate studies”, say Martini.  We do have limited space in our lab for new students but we do our best to provide motivated students with the opportunities they deserve. 

Dr. Martini said, “I am honored to receive this year’s award on behalf of my students that have worked so hard.  And I must not forget to thank our department and the college for their support.”

Other awards for 2011 in the College of Agriculture can be found here: http://www.ag.usu.edu/htm/faculty-and-staff/recent-awards-and-distinctions

 CLICK HERE for more pictures from Awards Banquet

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 2011 Annual Awards Banquet Program, College of Agriculture

Teton Botanicals (TeBo) has developed a great reputation locally for its hand, body, and face lotions and its product that it has branded “Coyute”.  Teton Botanicals products are made with vegetable oil and essential oils are added for fragrance and preservation. 

“Customers buy Coyute and other Teton Botanicals products because it feels great, neither greasy OR sticky AND because of its simple list of ingredients”, says Steve Bernet TeBo’s general manager.

Teton Botanicals is gearing up to manufacture and distribute its product regionally and online.  Their online store will be operational soon but in the meantime you can visit their website at www.tetonbotanicals.com  OR  www.coyute.com.

Thank you to Jacoba Poppleton in the Office of Research at Utah State University for writing an excellent article highlighting Silvana Martini’s research in USU’s 2011 Research Matters publication.

Pick up a copy of Research Matters to read about Martini’s groundbreaking research and that of other leading Utah State University research faculty.

For mor information please visit: www.tetonbotanicals.com

Dr. Karin Allen

The start-up company called Teton Botanicals Inc. (www.tetonbotanicals.com) has acquired the rights to a patented technology for structuring liquid vegetables oils.  The licensing company called Coasun Inc., (www.coasun.com) works primarily with the food industry and provides a solution that dramatically reduces saturated fats in foods without adding trans fatty acids.  Coasun technology is very useful in the baking industry which is challenged to reduce saturated fats while maintaining quality consumers demand.

By modifying the Coasun formula slightly, Teton Botanicals Inc. has successfully produced an all natural lotion made with avocado oil.  Avocado oil is typically used in high-end cosmetics only.   Teton Botanicals products hydrate the skin, and the natural oils add a lasting moisture barrier that prevent water from evaporating from the skin.  The lotion feels cool and soothing when applied.

Various essential oils and combinations are added for fragrance and to extend shelf life.  This was an important contribution from Dr. Karin Allen.   According to Steve Bernet at Teton Botanicals, “we have dramatically increased shelf life with USU’s help, however we will probably never achieve the 2 – 3 year shelf life of ordinary lotions.  Fundamentally, our product is made with edible, natural ingredients and no chemical preservatives.  We can’t expect to have the same shelf life as products containing petroleum distillates, petrolatums, mineral oils, chemical preservatives, and so on. ”

Bernet also asks, “If you can’t eat it, why shoud we put it on our skin?    And we don’t consume fresh food after weeks of storage, why should we put products that last years on our skin?  Afterall, our skin is the bodies largest organ.”

For an in depth article please visit: https://economicdevelopment.usu.edu/htm/in-the-news/articleID=9873

Teton Botanicals Inc. has started a test marketing program in the Logan, Utah area with the launch of their Logan Botanicals brand  (www.loganbotanicals.com)

For more information please contact:  Steve Bernet, Teton Botanicals Inc. , sbernet@tetonbotanicals.com, 435-753-3661

View Photo Album

This year’s success is thanks to the vendors that supported the event, the volunteers that worked at the event and helped organize it, the speakers, and everyone that attended.   There is a strong food and confectionary industry in the Rocky Mountains and it is growing and getting stronger.

Thank you also to the Food Science students from Brigham Young University and Utah State University that participated in this year’s poster competition. 

Participants from Brigham Young University included:

• Trenton W. Horner
• Stacia Woodworth and Christopher Hunt
• Jonathan Swindler
• Brenner Freeman

USU Food Science Students included:

• Ranjeeta Wadhwani
• Rossarin Tansawat
• Ashwini Wagh
• Amrita Dubey
• Albert Lihon Zhou
• Michael Young
• Dallin Snow (not present)
• Rebekah Lance

Once again this year the judges, ten in all,  were confronted by very difficult decisions.  All work was excellent and well presented and students gained valuable experience defending their work.

Ultimately awards were presented as follows:

FIRST – Albert Lihong Zhou.  Utah State University.  Supervisor – Dr. Robert Ward

SECOND – Ranjeeta Wadhwani. Utah State University.  Supervisor – Dr. Don J. McMahon

THIRD – Jonathan Swindler. Brigham Young University. Supervisor – MA Lloyd

View Photo Album

I am personally honored to have received the Researcher of the Year Award for the College of Agriculture and am in debt for this acheivement to my graduate students, my department and colleagues, the College of Agriculture, Utah State University, and my colleagues, collaborators, and mentors around the world.

This year’s Research of the Year Awards were presented to:

• Silvana Martini – College of Agriculture
• Jeffrey Doyle – Jon M. Huntsman School of Business
• Brian Higginbotham – Emma Eccles Jones College of Education & Human Services
• Anhong Zhou – College of Engineering
• Javier Dominguez – College of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences
• Phaedra Budy – College of Natural Resources
• Cheng-Wei (Tom) Chang – College of Science

For career accomplishments the D. Wynne Thorne Career Research Award was bestowed to Steve Scheiner – College of Science.

Congratulations again to everyone!    Silvana Martini.

http://usucollegeofag.blogspot.com/2010_04_01_archive.html

• Dr. Jeff Broadbent
• Dr. Jong-Su Eun
• Dr. Silvana Martini
• Dr. Donald J. McMahon
• Dr. Brian Nummer
• Dr. Marie Walsh
• Dr. Robert Ward
• Dr. Allen Young

Click on the following link to access UEN’s series on cheese science:

http://www.uen.org/tv/cheese/scientist.php

Marangoni’s research has demonstrated the relationship between food microstructure and physiological response in humans.  It facinating and important work.  I hope you will join us for a luncheon event organized by the Center for Advanced Nutrition.  Please RSVP.    The luncheon and speaker talks will be held at the Junction on USU campus.

ABSTRACT

Structuring liquid oils using non-conventional strategies: organogels, crystal hydrates and polymers

Alejandro G. Marangoni

Dept. of Food Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G2W1, Canada

Increasing public concerns over excessive saturated and trans fat intake from manufactured food products has lead to the search for alternative strategies to structure liquid oils into semisolid fats without addition of large amounts of unhealthy trans and saturated fats. Surfactant-like small molecules have been shown to self-assemble into long fibrils, effectively causing oil gelation at concentrations as low as 0.5%. Phytosterols, ceramides, and 12-hydroxystearic acid have been shown to be effective organogelators. Liquid oils can also be structured by microencapsulation within multilamellar vesicles, with walls composed of monoglyceride hydrates in the alpha-gel state. The surface potential of these monoglyceride vesicles is then adjusted so as to maximize inter-vesicle interactions and the formation of a cellular solid with oil-filled cells. These monoglyceride gels have recently been proven to have excellent functional characteristics in baking applications as well as for omega-3 oil stabilization. High-molecular weight polymers such as ethylcellulose have also been successfully used by our group to gel oil in the absence of water. This development of a polymer-stabilized organogel is very promising since these polymers are widely available and are food-grade. The development of a new way to make fat exploiting the self-assembly properties of food-grade molecules is at hand.

ABOUT DR. ALEJANDRO MARANGONI

Alejandro Marangoni is a professor and Canada Research Chair in Food and Soft Materials Science at the University of Guelph.

His work concentrates on the physical properties of foods, particularly fat crystallization and structure. He has published over 200 refereed research article and four books.

He is the recipient of many awards including a 1999 Premier’s Research Excellence Award, the first Young Scientist Award form the American Oil Chemists’ Society (2000), a Canada Research Chair (2001, renewed in 2006), two Distinguished Researcher Awards from the Ontario Innovation Trust (2002), a Career Award from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (2002), an E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship (2002) – given to the top 6 Canadian scientists from all disciplines – and the T.L. Mounts Award from AOCS in 2004.

Dr. Marangoni is a past chair of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s Plant Biology and Food Science Grant Selection Committee, member of NSERC’s E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship selection committee, Editor-in-Chief of Food Research International (Elsevier), and an Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Oil Chemists’ Society (Springer).

Dr. Marangoni has co-founded two high-technology food companies and is the co-recipient of the 2008 Guelph Partners of Innovation “Innovator of the year” award for his discovery of a zero trans, low saturate shortening alternative which could revolutionize the baking industry.

Student Research Poster Competition

April 6, 2010

Southtowne Expo Center

Call for Abstracts Due date:  March 22, 2010, 5 pm

Download Application Form