Alternative Proteins
Research on alternative proteins aims to develop innovative, sustainable and healthy protein sources that are not derived from animals. These include plant, microbial and lab-grown options. Challenges include optimizing the processing steps from raw material to final product, as well as scaling production efficiently on a large scale. Researchers from interdisciplinary fields develop and optimize healthy foods along the entire value chain - from farm to fork.
Key Research Thrusts
- Inhomogeneous raw materials and limited nutrient supply affect plant protein production
- Combinable functional units as building blocks for food
- Tailored chemical methods and self-assembling strategies
- Development and improvement of novel food textures, flavors and appearance
- Scale-up in all protein-based food sectors
- Safe and healthy nutrition through alternative proteins
- Consumer acceptance and education about alternative proteins
- Socioeconomic and environmental assessments of the alternative protein industry
Research Topics
Challenges in the research and development of alternative proteins occur on a small and industrial scale. These are addressed along the entire value chain from agricultural production and processing to the market and the consumer.
Resources, Raw Materials and Building Blocks
- CellAg – Producing animal products directly from cells instead of animals (Prof. Henkel)
- Rapeseed as an indigenous source of high quality protein for human nutrition (Prof. Dawid)
- Sustainable Protein Ingredients (Prof. Weisz)
Processing and Assembly on Small and Industrial Scale
- Provide – Protein and biomolecules sources in a circular food system (Prof. Rychlik)
- Dry processing of plant proteins (Prof. Först)
- Aerogels from plant proteins (Prof. Kulozik)
- Protein functionalization for fat reduction in foods (Prof. Kulozik)
- PRO-SUPER – Fungal Production Systems Utilizing pectin-rich agricultural Residues (Prof. Benz)
Sensory and Formulation for Healthy Nutrition
- Off-taste/off-flavor of protein isolates (Prof. Dawid)
- Plant stress and flavor (Prof. Dawid)
- Sensomics-Assisted Aroma Decoding of Pea Protein Isolates (Prof. Dawid)
- Plant-based food: Bridging the gap of new proteins and FLAVOURsome (Prof. Dawid)
Data Science, Marketing and Environmental Impact
- TriboTec – Protein enrichment and fractionation of side-streams (Prof. Först)
- DiSPBiotech – Morphology Modelling of aggregating filamentous fungi (Prof. Briesen)
- Model-based decision support for the design of plant-based meat alternatives (Prof. Briesen)
- REIF – Ressource-efficient, economic and intelligent food chain (Prof. Becker)
| Name | Title | Professorship / Chair |
|---|---|---|
| Marius Henkel | Prof. Dr.-Ing. | |
| Mirjana Minceva | Prof. Dr. | |
| Stephen Schrettl | Prof. Dr. | |
| Jutta Roosen | Prof. Dr. | |
| Roman Werner | Dr. | |
| Thomas Becker | Prof. Dr.-Ing. | |
| Corinna Dawid | Prof. Dr. | |
| Petra Först | Prof. Dr.-Ing. | |
| Ute Weisz | Prof. Dr. | Plant proteins and Nutrition |
| Dominik Grimm | Prof. Dr. | |
| Michael Rychlik | Prof. Dr. | |
| Sonja Berensmeier | Prof. Dr. | |
| J. Philipp Benz | Prof. Dr. | |
| Heiko Briesen | Prof. Dr. | |
| Thomas Brück | Prof. Dr. | |
| Bastian Blombach | Prof. Dr. | |
| Volker Sieber | Prof. Dr. | |
| Michael Zavrel | Prof. Dr.-Ing. | |
| Daniel Cremers | Prof. Dr. | |
| Markus List | Prof. Dr. | |
| Bernhard Kuester | Prof. Dr. | |
| Cathleen Zeymer | Prof. Dr. | |
| Luisa Menapace | Prof., Ph.D. | |
| Claudia Doblinger | Prof. Dr. | |
| Dirk Haller | Prof. Dr. | |
| Veronika Somoza | Prof. Dr. | |
| Martina Gastl | Dr. -Ing. | |
| Matthias Hebrok | Prof. Dr. | |
| Nikolaus Adams | Prof. Dr.-Ing. | |
| Senthold Asseng | Prof. Dr. | |
| Petra Mela | Prof. Dr. | |
| Ruth Müller | Prof. Dr. | |
| Sebastian M. Pfotenhauer | Prof. Dr. |
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