Data processing, dialogue with beamline scientists and insights on SAXS/SANS - key take aways from the Masterclass on Food
Course partcipants and organisers pictured at LINXS during the Masterclass on Food in August.
The fourth Masterclass on Food Structure Studies within the Northern Lights on Food theme was held at LINXS in late August. Milena Corredig, core group member of the theme, reflects on the development and evolution of this initiative.
Milena Corredig is Professor in Food Design and Technology at Aarhus University, and core group member of the Northern Light on Food theme.
– Over the years, participants have successfully developed and improved their science, asking increasingly more fundamental research questions. This is also reflected in the need to keep up with the development and management of the course, says Milena Corredig, Professor in Food Design and Technology at Aarhus University, and core group member of the Northern Lights on Food theme.
The Masterclass is organised every year and aims to build a new generation of researchers interested in the food domain, who can have a holistic approach to the study of food structure and understand which length scale to probe to resolve a specific problem. To achieve this, the Masterclass gives the participants a basic understanding of some of the advanced physical techniques available to study food structure, including those accessed in large scale facilities. More importantly the Masterclass teaches them how to design fundamental science experiments to resolve food science problems, and which complementary techniques are needed to understand the complexity of food matrices.
Students’ motivation has changed over time
Milena Corroding notes that in the beginning, many people participated because they were curious to learn more about the community and how to study food structure, whereas now people attend because they are motivated to develop their science, and become familiar with the available physical techniques, especially those based on X-rays and neutrons.
Each year, Milena Corredig and her colleagues change the content slightly, invite internationally recognised researchers to cover specific topics, and create a hands-on session at MAX IV, which is usually very appreciated. For example, they rotate between different beamlines and techniques to demonstrate a new technique every year. This year, the Masterclass was hosted at Balder, where the participants were introduced to spectroscopic techniques. This set-up also offers opportunity for people to come back to the Masterclass several times.
Positive feedback on varied course content
The feedback from the people who attend the course is always positive. They meet new colleagues, and strengthen not only their knowledge but also their research network.
As key take aways for this year’s course, participants highlighted the session on data processing, the importance of dialogue with beamline scientists to assess research feasibility, the insights on Small Angle X-ray Scattering, and Small Angle Neutron Scattering techniques, and the hands on exercises.
For future courses, some of the participants suggest including a deeper initial introduction of the techniques to get everyone on the same page, more pros and cons of using various methods, and visits to more than one beamline, example for scattering, imaging and spectroscopy, to be able to get a wider knowledge of different applications.
Next year, the Northern Lights on Food theme is ending at LINXS. What is Milena Corredig’s hopes for the future in relation to the Masterclass?
– One thing is to get funding to do this again. It takes many years to build up this kind of effort, so this is extremely important. If young people don't get trained in how to use these techniques, they won’t understand what can be done, or how to utilise them in their science, both in academia and in industry.
Especially as Milena Corredig and her colleagues have seen first-hand the impact the course can have. Previous participants have for example come back as users at MAX IV, and some of the professors engaged in the course have gone on to build strong networks and collaborations with others.
– We also want to develop the course further and set up user meetings for all those who work on food science at either end of the course. This would be a great way to maintain networks, and progress science discussions.
For more information on the masterclass, please connect with the main organisers, Tommy Nylander, Lund University, Anna Ström, Chalmers, and Milena Corredig, Aarhus University.
Three of the students are having a break at LINXS during the course.