University of Agriculture of Szczecin
(Poland :: University Partner)
Web site: www.ar.szczecin.pl
Description
The Agricultural University of Szczecin is a national educational and scientific organization founded in 1954. It is located in north-west part of POLAND, 120 km from Berlin and 80 km from Baltic see. At present 9500 students attend lectures in four Faculties: Biotechnology and Animal Sciences, Environmental and Agricultural Sciences, Economy and Food Economics, Food Sciences and Fisheries. There is more than 800 employees, among which more than 400 are involved in various research activities. The main expertise areas are focused on food science and economy, animal breeding and protection of agricultural environment. Chair of Food Packaging and Biopolymers (FPaB) is an interdisciplinary group working within the Faculty of Food Sciences and Fisheries. FPaB research activities are mainly focused on the following topics: immobilization and microencapsulation of active substances and food-additives, biodegradable food-packaging materials and food-packaging films as a gas-barrier. Especially FPaB has some expertise in microencapsulation based on natural polymers (polysaccharides and proteins), immobilization of living cells (plant and bacteria), food-bioactive substances and taste and smell masking, oxygen transmission rate measurements and mechanical characterization of food-packaging films, food and packaging interaction (long shelf-life studies?changes of texture and chemical composition during storage),.
Over the last five years the Agricultural University of Szczecin has been involved in many national and EC funded research projects. Specifically, the members of FPaB have participated in the European Commission's COST 840 action: "Bioencapsulation. Innovations and Technologies" (1998-2001) and bilateral project "New polyelectrolyte systems for microencapsulation" between Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Lausanne) and Technical University of Szczecin (Polymer Institute) (2000-2002).
Facilities to be used in the project
- laboratories with standard equipment (one for physicochemical analysis, second for chemical synthesis)
- free access to the food technology laboratories and outdoor agricultural facilities (composting studies of biodegradable materials)
An unique equipment which will be used:
- Texture Analyzer TA-XT2?Stable Micro Systems (to measure mechanical properties of different materials, gels, particles and polymer films)
- Oxygen Permeation Systems OX-TRAN 2/20?Mocon
Research personnel
- Artur Bartkowiak
- Slawomir Lisiecki
