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Workshop on Vibrational spectroscopy and biomimetic membranes for understanding protective mechanisms of oligosaccharides

At the international conference LCAFood2020, Caroline Pénicaud, from INRAE, presented work related to the environmental performance of new processes for the production of fructo- and galacto-oligosaccharides (FOS and GOS).

At the international conference Cryo2020, Peter Kilbride, from Asymptote ltd - Cytiva, presented work in developing new fructose-based cryoprotectants for mammalian cells, as part of the project PREMIUM.

Probiotic production requires going through different processes before being marketed and consumed or added to any food, such as freezing, lyophilization, spray drying. These processes cause various types of stress, affecting both the viability and the functional properties of bacteria. In addition, when ingested, probiotic bacteria must pass through the entire digestive system in order to reach the colon in enough amounts to exert their beneficial action. Currently, with the objective to prevent the low survival of probiotic bacteria during and/or after their production and also after their digestion exist different strategies, the microencapsulation being one of the most used approaches.

Fernanda Fonseca was invited to present a review on the physical events taking place during freezing. The review focused on the role of the physical state of the intracellular and extracellular environments in determining the response of cells to stresses encountered during cryopreservation. The implications of cryoprotectant selection, cooling rates, and controlled cooling temperature range for cell storage were also discussed. The presentation generated a high level of public interest with many questions from industrial and academic participants.