News
2023
JANUARY
Charlotte Stemler receives the Bernhard van Lengerich Research Award
On January 20, 2023, Charlotte Stemler was awarded with the Bernhard van Lengerich Research Award during the 52nd Scientific information meeting of the Berlin-Brandenburg Association for Grain Research (Berlin-Brandenburgische Gesellschaft für Getreideforschung e.V.) in Berlin, DE. The prize honors her excellent work on the application of lipases in cake making published in Food Chemistry X entitled "Improvement of cake baking properties by lipases compared to a traditional emulsifier". The full text is available here: doi: 10.1016/j.fochx.2022.100442.
Presentation of the Bernhard van Lengerich Award. Prof. Dr. Katharina Scherf, Prof. em. Dr. Dr. e.h. Friedrich Meuser, Charlotte Stemler and Prof. Dr. Eckhard Flöter (from left to right ). © G. Gölz
New paper in LWT - Food Science and Technology
We analysed the effects of seven baking lipases on three different cake recipes in comparison to the traditional emulsifier DATEM. The greatest effects occurred in the eggless cake, whereas lipase reactions seemed to be inhibited in the yeast-based cake. For basic cake and pound cake, three lipases decreased batter density and stickiness and led to a liquefaction of the batter. This opens up many possibilities for application of lipases in cakes and other fine bakery goods. The full text is available here: doi: 10.1016/j.lwt.2023.114464
Kim Lorenz joins our group as a scientific assistant. Welcome back to our group!
2022
DECEMBER
New paper in Food Chemistry
As result of our successful collaboration with the cereal research group at Budapest University of Technology and Economics, we characterized 32 rye cultivars by RP-HPLC, gel permeation HPLC and R5 and G12 ELISA. Seven cultivars were selected for reference material production based on cluster analysis, geographical origin and availability to comprehensively cover the diversity of rye. The full text is available here: doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2022.135148
We say goodbye to Bianka Bohnacker and to Melanie Leitner who supported two of the projects in our group. We wish them all the best for the future!
NOVEMBER
Melanie Leitner joins our group as a scientific assistant. Welcome back to our group!
OCTOBER
Our research on wheat-related disorders was discussed in the format "Science Talk" by SWR-Fernsehen in episode 3 called "Unser täglich Brot auf dem Prüfstand – wie gesund ist unser Grundnahrungsmittel?" (Our daily bread put to the test - how healthy is our staple food?) on October 16, 2022. Take a look at the full episode HERE.
New paper in Nutrients
Our interdisciplinary work shows that old and modern wheat varieties stimulate immune cells in a similar way. Therefore, wheat breeding cannot be blamed for a higher prevalence of wheat-related disorders. The full text is available here: doi: 10.3390/nu14204257
X-fold upregulation of immune stimulatory markers CCL2, IL1ß, and CCL20 in THP1 cells after stimulation with a peptic-tryptic digests of albumins/globulins (al/glo), glutenins (glu), or gliadins (glia). Figure taken unmodified from Dieterich et al. (2022), available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Kim Lorenz successfully completed her MSc thesis. Congratulations and all the best for the future!
SEPTEMBER
Marlene Fischer, Melanie Leitner, Anne-Sophie Lickvers, Katrin Maß and Helen Weihrich successfully completed their MSc theses. Congratulations and all the best for the future!
Luna Bahlo, Tobias Dietzel, Rebecca Lingenfelder, Johanna Moßburger, Kathrin Pfirrmann, Laura Stein, Jan Patrick Vollmer and Judith Wießler start their MSc theses. Welcome to our group!
New paper in Food Chemistry: X
Lipases are commonly used as clean-label improvers for bread. We analyzed the effects of seven baking lipases on three different cake formulations (an eggless cake, a pound cake with eggs and a yeast-based cake) in comparison to a traditional emulsifier. Lipase-induced effects mostly exceeded those of the emulsifier and were most pronounced in formulations without intrinsic emulsifiers like eggs. The lipases differed in their extent of improvement, hinting at the importance of their specific reactivity patterns. The full text is available here: doi: 10.1016/j.fochx.2022.100442
New paper in LWT - Food Science and Technology
Lipases with suitable substrate specificity are needed to minimize the release of short-chain fatty acids that may cause undesirable off-flavors in fine bakery goods. The broad spectrum of lipase substrate specificities seen in the p-nitrophenyl-assay was not apparent in the patterns of free fatty acids (FFA) released from model emulsions. There, all lipases released similar percentages of FFA depending on the fat and emulsifier used. The full text is available here: doi: 10.1016/j.lwt.2022.113914
AUGUST
New paper in Frontiers in Plant Science
Quantitation of amylase/trypsin-inhibitors (ATIs) in wheat is still a challenge. A selection of ATIs was silenced in the common wheat cultivar Bobwhite and durum wheat cultivar Svevo by RNAi and gene editing, respectively, in order to reduce the amounts of ATIs. All lines were analyzed by LC-MS/MS with one targeted method using stable isotope labelled peptides and four different approaches for relative quantitation. The full text is available here: doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.974881
SDS-PAGE of wheat extracts. White arrows correspond to the band over 15 kDa (CM3) and black arrows below 15 kDa (all other ATIs). Figure taken unmodified from Geisslitz et al. (2022), available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Eleonora Tissen starts her PhD thesis on the "Detection of partially hydrolyzed gluten in foods". Welcome (again) to our group!
JULY
Harald Perten Prize 2022 awarded to Katharina Scherf
The Harald Perten Prize of the International Association for Cereal Science and Technology (ICC) recognizes and rewards outstanding achievements in science, research, teaching or transmission of knowledge which serve the cereal sciences and technology, primarily recognizing practical applications in the areas of starch, gluten and enzymes. Awarded every second year, this year's prize goes to Katharina Scherf and it was handed over at the ICC2022 Conference in July 2022. Find out more HERE.
Eleonora Tissen joins our group as a scientific assistant. Welcome to our group!
MAY
Bianka Bohnacker joins our group as a scientific assistant. Welcome to our group!
MARCH
ERC Starting Grant for Katharina Scherf
Wheat-related diseases such as celiac disease or wheat allergies are increasing in the population. The causes for this increase are still unknown, but involve the intricate interaction of proteolytically resistant gluten immunoreactive peptides from wheat, rye and barley, the human immune system and yet unknown adjuvants. The exact molecular structures of gluten immunoreactive peptides that occur in the human body, for example after the consumption of wheat products, are not yet known, because specific analytical methods are lacking. The GLUTENOMICS project (Tracking gluten immunoreactive peptides from the grain to the gut and beyond) aims to uncover precisely these structures. The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded the Starting Grant with up to 1.5 million Euro for five years to Katharina Scherf. Find out more HERE.
Lisa Geißendörfer and Eleonora Tissen successfully completed their MSc theses. Congratulations and all the best for the future!
Marlene Fischer, Melanie Leitner, Anne-Sophie Lickvers, Kim Lorenz, Katrin Maß and Helen Weihrich start their MSc theses. Welcome to our group!
Our research related to wheat and baking was featured in "alles wissen" by HR-Fernsehen in the part called "Das Geheimnis guter Brötchen" (The secret of good bread rolls) on March 17, 2022. Take a look at the full episode HERE.
New paper in European Journal of Nutrition
Amylase/trypsin inhibitors (ATIs) are widely consumed in cereal-based foods and have been implicated in adverse reactions to wheat exposure, such as respiratory and food allergy, and intestinal responses associated with coeliac disease and non-coeliac wheat sensitivity. This review summarizes our current knowledge of these proteins, focusing on features which relate to their biological activity and identifying gaps in our knowledge and research priorities. The full text is available here: doi: 10.1007/s00394-022-02841-y
Ears of einkorn (A), emmer (B), spelt (C) and modern wheat (D). Photos: S. Geisslitz. Figure taken unmodified from Geisslitz et al. (2022), available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
FEBRUARY
We say goodbye to Melanie Leitner who supported our project on the gluten network structure of spelt and emmer and we wish her all the best for her upcoming MSc thesis in our group!