Studying Biopolymers Using Vibrational Spectroscopy

This PhD will involve the use of infrared and Raman spectroscopy to probe the nature and affect of a range of biopolymers as food additives. Additives to food can affect the properties such as the freezing point and texture of ice in frozen products. This PhD will involve the development of low temperature FTIR and Raman spectroscopic approaches to examine both the gelation of biopolymers and the effect of structure of the biopolymers the formation of ice and will use this to provide insight into the structure and folding of biopolymers and how they interact with water/ice together with how such interactions would affect the properties of the food materials.