| "... we work with the university because it's a world-renowned institution with world-class researchers." Rhodia Staff Scientist Greg Leyer |
Chemical and Biological Engineering Professor Juan de Pablo (second from right) and graduate student Nancy Ekdawi-Sever (left) are working with Rhodia Staff Scientist Greg Leyer (right) and Process Engineer Fabrice Beretta (second from left) to create freeze-dried probiotics that have superior stability and a longer shelf life. (Photo by Bob Rashid) |
While "friendly bacteria" might sound like a contradiction in terms, Madison-based Rhodia Inc., is making sure that people worldwide benefit from health-enhancing microorganisms. Called probiotics, they are bacteria found predominantly in yogurt, fermented milks and dietary supplements, and are credited with health benefits including warding-off intestinal tract infections, modulating the immune system, helping the body produce B vitamins and aiding in dairy product digestion.
UW-Madison Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering Professor Juan de Pablo and his research group are working with Rhodia to create freeze-dried probiotics that have superior stability, a longer shelf-life and the ability to survive in greater numbers at room temperature.
When Rhodia Staff Scientist Greg Leyer began exploring new methods in stabilizing freeze-dried bacteria, he became interested in learning more about a patent application held by Juan de Pablo's group, which described a new method of preserving biological systems.
"Most probiotics are sold in a dry format, so shelf-life of freeze-dried bacteria is something that we want to improve," said Leyer. "There was technology being developed at the College of Engineering that we felt could have great benefits to our industry."
A jointly-sponsored university-industry collaboration between Rhodia and UW allowed Juan de Pablo's team to expand their research efforts to include bacterial probiotics. "We have a general class of chemicals and materials that can be used for cryopreservation and freeze-drying of biological systems," said Juan de Pablo. "We had tested these products on enzymes and proteins, but not on bacteria. Our collaboration with Rhodia gave us an opportunity to apply some of our newly-developed stabilization methods to several classes of bacteria and to optimize them to a point where they offer an economically attractive alternative to what's currently being done in industry."
Nancy Ekdawi-Sever, a chemical engineering student working with Juan de Pablo, explained that her group developed a patent-pending formulation optimized to suit each type of probiotic. "We've also improved the freeze-drying protocol to figure out how much freeze-drying is necessary to yield the best stability," said Ekdawi-Sever.
Most of Ekdawi-Sever's and former UW student Paul Conrad's experiments are conducted on a relatively small scale. In collaboration with Ekdawi-Sever, Rhodia Process Engineer Fabrice Beretta makes sure that the technology developed in the laboratory can be scaled up for use in its manufacturing plants. "It's a very cost effective way of doing research for Rhodia," said Beretta.
The collaboration has sped the development of the process immensely. "We hope to commercialize this in 2001 — the sooner the better," said Leyer. "From what we have seen in small-scale studies, the new process provides a significant benefit."
In addition to benefiting industry, collaborations like this are important to education. "By collaborating with industry we make sure that the things we do are relevant in practice, which should always be an important goal for an engineer. Furthermore, the students involved in this collaboration get to apply the fruits of their research on real-life, commercial processes," said Juan de Pablo.
Leyer noted that the experience has been very positive for Rhodia. "We do not do work with the University of Wisconsin-Madison because it's 10 miles from our business, we work with the university because it's a world-renowned institution with world-class researchers."
--By Rebecca Smith--
| For further information, please contact: |
Juan J. de Pablo, 608/262-7727
depablo@engr.wisc.edu
Copyright 2001 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
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Date last modified: Thursday, 31-May-2001 09:06:25 CDT
Date created: 31-May-2001
