Departments - Protein Chemistry and Technology

Starting in the year 1963 as Protein Technology Department, this unit of CFTRI expanded its name later as the Department of Protein Chemistry and Technology, owing to the scope of its R&D activities widening seriously into technological issues as well.

The major objectives of the department are,
- To adopt a holistic approach to oilseed processing for higher yields
   and better quality of oil and edible cake.
- To develop technologies for elimination of anti-nutritional and toxic
   factors from oilseeds.
- To formulate foods utilizing edible flours, concentrates and isolates
   of protein-rich foods.
- To apply structural biology of food proteins and enzymes for
   elucidating the mechanism of action at the molecular level.

- Oilseed processing by integrated technologies
- Structural biology of oilseed proteins.

Oil Seed Processing

Vegetable oils constitute one of the worlds' most important plant commodities, and close to 70% of this used in food products. Although India produces around 25.3 million tonnes (1998-99) of edible oil, it still imports a considerable percentage of its total consumption. The economy of oilseed processing in our country is essentially geared to production of oils, although oilseeds also play a valuable role as edible proteins. Keeping this in view, our department has focused its endeavours in this area on,

- Enhancing the existing oilseed processing technologies for improved oil quality, with greater yields and better-quality residual (edible) cake as protein functional ingredients.
- Developing integrated processing technologies, with the above end
   in focus, for soyabean, groundnut, mustard, safflower, sunflower and sesame oilseeds.
- Formulating nutritionally balanced foods that make effective use of
   edible-grade flours from oilseeds.
- Developing protein isolates and hydrolysates for use in specialized
   food formulations.

Structural Biology of Proteins

Several protein components of an oilseed are proportionally present in the seed during its formation, dormancy and germination. Our biophysical studies on the structural aspects of oilseed proteins have elucidated the existence of similarities among the high as well as low molecular weight protein fractions of various oilseeds. Our focus in this area extends to,

- The study of the exhaustive association-dissociation and
   denaturation of seed proteins under various solution conditions,
   employing such modern techniques as differential scanning
   calorimetry, stopped flow kinetics, thermal denaturation and
   CD-spectropolarimetry.
- Investigating the effects of thermodynamics-sub-unit, protein-ligand
   and inter-macromolecular interactions-on the physico-chemical and
   functional characteristics of oilseed proteins, employing
   state-of-the-art techniques.
- The Structural Biology of Enzymes.
   Enzymes play a crucial role as biocatalysts in all food systems. We have, therefore, focused on applying the methods of structural
   biology of enzymes such as solution confirmational analysis and
   equilibrium folding and unfolding, for elucidation of the mechanism of
   action at the molecular level of the food enzymes lipoxygenase,
   lipase, papain, pectinase and polyphenol oxidase for a better
   understanding of the domain interactions in their structure and
   stability.

Technologies Developed/Transferred

- The landmark AMUL process for producing milk powder from
   buffalo's milk, AMUL being hailed as India's baby food of the
   millennium (This was a technology breakthrough as it demonstrated that buffalo's milk, till then considered unsuitable for processing, could very well be formulated into a baby food powder. This was also an industrial breakthrough as it laid the foundation for India's flourishing indigenous baby food industry.)
- The international-award-winning process for Miltone, a nutritious
   drink based on vegetable protein, and meant to stretch the
   availability of milk as well as provide easy nutrition to India's weaker
   sections.
- Process for the popular Amul offshoot Bal-Amul, a roller-dried
   product based on cereals, soya flour and milk.
- Integrated oilseed processes for isolating vegetable proteins from
   the food-grade meals of groundnut, rape/mustard, sunflower,
   sesame, soyabean and sunflower oilseeds, for formulation of
   weaning foods and inexpensive supplementary foods in combination
   with cereals, pulses and other ingredients [Examples of such foods
   are an Indian multipurpose food (42% protein), blended flours
   (paustic Atta and Mysore flour), Bal-Ahar, nutro-biscuits and
   macaroni, protein hydrolysates and bland soya concentrates, and
   these are used extensively in school lunch and mass feeding
   programmes in India.]
- Process for Energy Food, a food supplement that dispenses with
   any need for cooking and becomes consumable by just mixing with
   water.
- Process for a baby food based on a groundnut protein-isolate and
   milk solids, using spray-drying methods.
- Process for weaning foods containing 8-22% protein with PER >2
- Process for benefaction of sunflower seeds for kernels that yield
   better oil quality and quantity, in addition to a protein-rich cake.
- Several processes covering the preparation of dehulled mustard
   seeds/flour and protein concentrates.
- Integrated process for obtaining high-pungency mustard oil and
   low-fibre/glucosinolate oil cake suitable for foods and feeds.

- Over the past five decades, the research work carried out at our
   department has won accreditation from numerous peer-reviewed
   journals of both national and international standard, and our
   research presentations at national and international symposia have
   been recognized with several awards.
- Particularly, our pioneering work on the structural biology of oilseeds has found light in many journals of international repute, and won a major recognition with the prestigious Shanthi Swaroop Bhatnagar Award in Life Sciences for 1996 going to Dr V. Prakash, the protein technologist who heads the institute now.
- The scientific staff of our department command expertise in areas
   ranging from basic research in protein chemistry to applied
   technology development. In addition, several post-doctoral fellows,
   graduate students and visiting research fellows keep pursuing
   different topics of protein chemistry and technology at the cutting
   edge.
- Up until now, over 50 of our researchers have secured Ph. D.
   degrees in biochemistry, bioscience, biotechnology and food
   science, and the alumni of the department can be found all across
   the world, in renowned educational and research institutions as well
   as premier food industry centres.

- Top-notch-consultancy with full infrastructural support, on product
   formulations of protein-rich foods and integrated processes of all
   oilseeds.
- Analytical services for proximate composition analysis, total and
   free amino acid, in vitro nitrogen digestibility, trypsin inhibitors,
   haemagglutinins, and food enzyme assays.
- Training and research facilities for the award of M. Sc. and Ph.D.
   degree in food science, bioscience, biochemistry and
   biotechnology.
- Special advanced programmes for training industry and R&D
   personnel in the fields of oilseed processing, protein-rich foods and
   advanced analytical techniques.

True to its status as an advanced protein chemistry laboratory, our department enjoys the support of several advanced facilities such as,
- Analytical and preparative centrifuges.
- Stopped flow spectrophotometer.
- Temperature-controlled spectrophotometer.
- CD-spectropolarimeter.
- Differential scanning calorimeter.
- A range of facilities for in-house development of all the processes
   and technologies, including solvent extractors, destoners, dehullers,
   decorticators, flaking machinery, pressure homogenizer and a spray
   drier.
- Sophisticated computing facilities with Internet connectivity.
- Additional access to the Central Instruments Facility and Services
   having sophisticated facilities that include preparative and analytical
   HPLC, FPLC, capillary electrophoresis equipment, scanning
   electron microscope and GC-MS, GC-FTIR and ICP
   spectrophotometers.