|
"The scientific scope is broad, crossing
traditional boundaries of science from the oxidation of fats to
understanding disease mechanisms," says chemistry professor Tim Long.
"We focus a wide range of expertise on the study of free radical and
oxidative processes."
Susan Duncan, associate professor of food science
and technology, Long, and Craig Thatcher, large animal clinical
sciences professor and department head in the Virginia–Maryland
Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, and their students have been
collaborating in order to determine the biochemical pathways of the
oxidation process and how the process can be used to protect food and
health and create new technologies. The chemistry-biology
collaboration offers the potential for the development of antioxidant
delivery systems, including antioxidant-enriched foods, novel
biocompatible synthetic polymer delivery systems, and new natural and
synthetic macromolecular antioxidants.
"We are interested in the oxidation of
triglycerides, such as soybean oil, and evaluating the potential of
the products of that oxidation for high performance polymers," says
Long. "This really gives us an opportunity to develop technologies
that are not petroleum based."
Food science graduate student Heather Woodson is
determining which light waves cause oxidation in such packaged foods
as milk, and student Janet Webster is evaluating polymer systems that
will block those light waves. Duncan and the students have been
visiting with a Virginia polymers company about that research.
Duncan and Long are exploring controlled release of
antioxidants by polymeric films.
Thatcher and his colleagues in veterinary medicine
are also interested in nutrition and in the roles of free radicals in
disease, and will help the MILES researchers understand the biomedical
implications and evaluate the success of their discoveries with animal
models.
Janet Rankin and Mike Houston, professors of human
nutrition, foods, and exercise, and Korinn Saker, assistant professor
of large animal clinical sciences, are interested in how oxidative
stress is related to obesity and Type II diabetes in animals and
humans. Nutritional strategies will be developed to modify oxidative
stress.
"We are looking at interactive systems," says
Duncan. For example, Ed Smith, associate professor of animal and
poultry sciences, is studying the genetics of a bird that has a long
life. "He's looking at oxidative stresses to see what is different
from short-lived birds. He will provide genetic information."
Now, oxidation is the basis of an interdisciplinary
Ph.D. program at Virginia Tech. Duncan, Long, and Thatcher have
received a five-year, $3.2 million National Science Foundation
Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) award
for the MILES program.
The NSF IGERT program supports interdisciplinary
training of PhD scientists and engineers. The MILES IGERT involves 15
core faculty members in four of Virginia Tech's colleges – Agriculture
and Life Sciences, Engineering, Science, and Veterinary Medicine – to
provide cooperative research, interdisciplinary education, and
outreach experiences to 36 students. Other departments, institutes,
universities, and national laboratories are affiliated with the
program as research collaborators and to provide internships, for
instance. Researchers affiliated with the Edward Via Virginia College
of Osteopathic Medicine will provide a bridge to human health.
"The program bridges the gap between traditional
macromolecular science and biological disciplines," says Long. "It
changes the way we do education." Although the first class of Ph.D.
students for the MILES training and certification program will not
start until Fall 2004, students are already crossing disciplines. "I
have a human, nutrition, foods and exercise major in my chemistry
group," says Long. "That's the future of education." |
