Tools in Polysaccharide Engineering One-day training course organised as a pre-conference course of the 2nd EPNOE conference 28 August 2011 Wageningen, The Netherlands Organised by Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR) in collaboration with the European Polysaccharide Network of Excellence (EPNOE) and the Graduate School VLAG (Advanced Studies in Food Technology, Agrobiotechnology, Nutrition and Health Sciences).

Introduction

Background
The pre-conference course for young researchers and professionals from industry will be organised on the theme of the polysaccharide conference "Polysaccharides as source of advanced and sustainable products" (EPNOE 2011). The course will address the multidisciplinary aspects of polysaccharide use as essential resource for human sustenance in food, medicine, clothing and constructive materials (composites, housing). The structural organisation of polysaccharides determines the properties and molecular interaction with the environment and dictates dissolution behavior in aqueous and non-aqueous media. Design of novel advanced polysaccharide based products may get inspiration from the ingenious natural variation that can be observed in living organisms. Novel ideas for non-food processing may emerge from the exchange of ideas of the way food chemistry has been exploring the processing and preparation of polysaccharide based gums, pastes, gels and doughs to prepare tasty and healthy food products while the skills developed in the textile chemistry for handling and processing of polysaccharide structures into complex woven or non-woven fabrics may inspire molecular manipulation on nano-technological scale.

Course contents

Learning objectives

• description of the structural and functional variation of polysaccharides
• information on the state of the art of polysaccharide modification
• definition of application property demands
• selection of suitable tools for polysaccharide innovations in materials, health and food

Programme

8:30		Registration
		Polysaccharides bioengineering and design
9:00		Polysaccharide resources, properties, and functions	Jan van Dam
9:30		Advanced pretreatments and fractionation technology for disassembly of polysaccharides from biomass	Pedro Fardim
10:00		Chemical and enzymatic modification of polysaccharides to impart novel functionality and structural properties	Carmen Boeriu
10:30		Coffee break
10:45		In planta alteration of starch biogenesis and biosynthesis	Richard Visser
11:15		Combined analytical approaches for the characterization of hetero- and homopolysaccharide structures	Hans Kamerling
12:00		Rheology of polysaccharides for non-rheologists: the notions of non-linearity, entanglements and elasticity	Patrick Navard
12:30		Surface characterization of polysaccharides solid surfaces	Karin Stana
13:00		Lunch
		Polysaccharide design and architecture in plants
14:00		Plant cell wall architecture	Henk Schols
14:30		Microscopic imaging of cellulose deposition	Tijs Ketelaar
15:00		Monitoring of solutions and fibers of the dry-wet spinning process	Frank Wendler & Birgit Kosan
15:30		Group work: Elaboration of selected research cases in food, medical application and biomaterials (functional foods, health foods, controlled release drugs, non-immunogenic medical implants, filters and selective membranes, packaging gas barrier foils, controlled biodegradable / compostable materials, light weight structures)
17:00		Presentation of group work, discussion
19:30		Dinner / Young scientists' social activity

Organisation

Course coordinators

• Carmen Boeriu - Wageningen University, The Netherlands
• Jan van Dam - Wageningen University, The Netherlands
• Henk Schols - Wageningen University, The Netherlands
• Eva Oudshoorn-Gijsbertsen - Graduate School VLAG, Wageningen University, The Netherlands

Other faculty

• Pedro Fardim - Åbo Akademi University, Finland
• Richard Visser - Wageningen University, The Netherlands
• Hans Kamerling - University of Groningen, Netherlands
• Patrick Navard - ARMINES, France
• Karin Stana-Kleinschek - University of Maribor, Slovenia
• Tijs Ketelaar - Wageningen University, The Netherlands
• Frank Wendler - Thuringian Institute of Textile and Plastics Research (TITK), Germany
• Birgit Kosan - Thuringian Institute of Textile and Plastics Research (TITK), Germany

General information

Study load
Participation in both this pre-conference course and the conference while presenting a poster will be awarded with 3 ECTS (European Credit Transfer System).

Language
The course language will be English.

Location & accommodation
The course venue is the Conference Centre Hof van Wageningen, where also EPNOE 2011 will be held. Conference participants can book 1 or 2 additional nights. For details, see the EPNOE2011 announcement.

Contact information
For more information please contact:
The Graduate School VLAG
Ms. Eva Oudshoorn-Gijsbertsen
P.O. Box 8129
6700 EV Wageningen
The Netherlands
Tel. +31 317 485310
Fax +31 317 483342
Eva.Oudshoorn@wur.nl

Registration & course fee

The course is fully booked.

This one-day course is offered free of charge to PhD-students who registered for the EPNOE-conference. For other participants fees are available upon request. The course fee includes coffee/tea during breaks, lunch and dinner but does not cover accommodation.

The number of participants to the course is limited to 60.
Please register by completing the course application form.
Note: to be able to fill in the course registration form, you need an account. To create an account, please click the link above. Don't forget to fill in the course registration form after creating your account.
The final registration date is 16 July 2011.

Do not forget also to register for the conference and to submit a poster.