Research
Food chemistry plays a central role along the value chain from agriculture to food production, consumption and consumer health and wellbeing. It now reaches beyond its traditional core discipline of food component analysis and food safety control into multidisciplinary research. With the interconnectedness of food intake, sensory perception, mastication, digestion, interaction with the human gastrointestinal system and gut microbiota, interaction with the human immune system and uptake and metabolism, a novel understanding of this whole biological system is required to create healthier products and move towards personalized nutrition concepts adapted to the individual’s specific needs. All of these aspects have been incorporated into our vision, mission and strategy.
Vision
The Department of Bioactive and Functional Food Chemistry is positioned as international leader in the elucidation of structural and functional interactions within proteins, between proteins and other food components and between food proteins and the human gastrointestinal and immune system.
Mission
The Department of Bioactive and Functional Food Chemistry studies the complex interplay between structure, functionality and bioactivity of food proteins in an interdisciplinary way and uses these fundamental insights to improve food security, food quality and food safety.
Strategy
The Department of Bioactive and Functional Food Chemistry combines new discoveries from modern food analytical techniques, including omics approaches, with functional characterization and analysis of the biochemical activity of food proteins to predict structure-functionality-bioactivity relationships.