Home Page of Jochen Weiss
Associate Professor
Department of Food Science
University of Massachusetts
234 Chenoweth Laboratory
100 Holdsworth Way
Amherst, MA 01003
Phone: (413) 545 1025
Fax: (413) 545 1262
EMail: jweiss1@foodsci.umass.edu
Introduction. Welcome to my home page and the homepage of the “Food Biophysics and Nanotechnology” (FBN) program at the University of Massachusetts. Please follow the links on the navigation bar on top to find out more about the research activities that I currently pursue (ongoing and planned research projects, facilities, publications, presentation etc.).
Teaching. Under the teaching section you will find a summary of my teaching activities both at my former employer (the University of Tennessee) and at my present teaching employer (the University of Tennessee) with links to online resources (lectures, labs, literature) hosted on SPARK.
Applicants. Interested applicants for M.S., Ph.D., post-doctoral and visiting research planning to join the FBN lab for a period can find information under the "Contact Me" section of the webpage.
Food Nanotechnology and Biophysics (FBN)
This program, that was founded in 1999 is geared towards expanding our understanding of fundamental physical principles that occur on a macro- or nanoscalar level and drive agriculturally relevant biological and engineering processes. We investigate fundamental processes and develop systems that address problems in industrial food microbiology, food safety and food processing operations. The program has currently three major focus areas: (I) formulation, characterization and functionality of micro- and nanoencapsulation systems (nanoemulsions, liposomes, microemulsions) systems to deliver and protect bioactive food components (antimicrobials, nutraceuticals, antioxidants, flavors) (II) production and functionalization of nonspherical nanostructures from food biopolymers using electrospinning, electrostatic depositioning, and shear/controlled phase separation (III) use of high-intensity ultrasound to create novel structures and functional molecules. You can read more about available and ongoing projects on the research page.
Research Topics
- Micro- and Nanoencapsulation Systems for Bioactive Food Ingredients
- These carrier systems included micellar capsules, liposomes, multilayered emulsions and biopolymeric solid nanoparticles containing a wide variety of bioactive compounds from strongly hydrophobic such as carotenoids, parabens to compounds with appreciable water solubility such as simple phenolics e.g. limonene, eugenol and carvacrol to hydrophilic functional compounds such as polypeptides and proteins (e.g. lysozyme and nisin).
- Nanoscalar Functional Structures from Food Biopolymers
- Nanotechnology has emerged as one of the most revolutionary scientific fields in decades. Nanotechnology focuses on organic or inorganic systems that are smaller than 100 nm. Such systems exhibit unexpected new functionalities because their behavior is not dominated by bulk physicochemical properties but instead is driven by surface or interfacial properties that are based on intermolecular interactions at phase boundaries. In our laboratory, we are pioneering the development of nanotechnological manufacturing principles in the food sciences to develop new applications that improve food safety and processing.
- Structure and ingredient Modifications Via High-Intensity Ultrasound
- High-intensity ultrasonication is the application of high-intensity sound waves with frequencies of > 20kHz to materials to alter their properties, initiate and accelerate reactions. We are focusing on investigations that would allow for this exciting new processing technology to be used in the food industry. In particular, we are working on altering molecular and colloidal structure alterations that will result in novel fucntionalities of food ingredients.
Research Facilities
The Food Biophysics and Nanotechnology lab is located in the Department of Food Science, University of Massachusetts and contains a variety of state of the art analytical techniques to carry out fundamental physicochemical property measurements. Laboratories are cross-use with other faculty giving researchers the opportunity to use an extremely wide variety of equipment. A second laboratory is dedicated towards food mcirobiology witha focus on antimicrobial efficacy protocols.