Potatoes are a extensively stored to provide a continuous supply all year round. Cultivars have different dormancy periods and sometimes sprout earlier than expected. While sprouting can be chemically suppressed, this is costly and can have adverse effects. This article sets out a novel method to
New publication – What’s in a bottle?
Bootlegged alcoholic beverages are a big business with damaging and occasionally lethal consequences. There are many excellent analytical techniques to detect these forgeries, but they require destructive sampling. How does one test a bottle quickly without opening it? NIR spectroscopy has been used
New publication – Phenolic inhibitors of the conversion of rice straw and husks into bioethanol
Converting lignocellulose to bioethanol has to overcome several obstacles. The material is not only mechanically stable, but the phenolic compounds it contains can also inhibit the microorganisms that convert it into ethanol. This paper investigates the content of these compounds in rice straw and
New publication – Lodging resistance in Brassica napus
Lodging - patches in the field laid flat by wind and rain - can reduce the yield of crops considerably. This paper is looking for underlying genetic factors that influence mechanical properties, stem dimension, and tissue structure which help plants stay upright. Miller C. N., Harper, A. L.,
ASU becomes CSR
The scientific support structure has been re-organised to reflect the science base in the new Institute. The Core Science Resources will follow on from the Analytical Sciences Unit and provide access to: Microscopy Flow cytometry Mass spectroscopy DMU Sequencing Statistics
IFR to join the Food Integrity project
The Analytical Sciences Unit at IFR has secured funding under the recent procurement call to join the EU Framework 7 project, "Food Integrity". We will be working on the analysis of the protein component in complex foods using Multiple Reaction Mode Mass Spectrometry, further developing the
New publication – meat authentication using Mass Spectrometry
"Just accepted" manuscript available for download now: Meat Authentication via MRM Mass Spectrometry of Myoglobin Peptides, AD Watson, Y Gunning, NM Rigby, M Philo, and EK Kemsley. Analytical Chemistry (DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.5b02318) September 14th, 2015.
Upcoming online course – Identifying Food Fraud
The Institute of Food Research has teamed up with the University of East Anglia to bring out a new Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), on identifying food fraud using analytical techniques. It is led by the head of the ASU, Kate Kemsley, who specialises in the use of advanced instrumentation for