Protein Chemistry

This week I've been working on making antibacterial protein casings that can eventually be used for sausage, cheese, etc. I didn't exactly mind making the different extracts and then adding them to the bacteria cultures, but I definitely like this job better. It's basically like cooking, which I love (there's a recipe and everything!). Most of the thinking goes into creating the recipe and determining how much glycerol should be used, figuring out how long the protein sheets should be heated, and deciding how much of the selected antimicrobial should be used, etc. After that things get pretty simple and although the process is slightly repetitive (we've used niacin as the antimicrobial for the past three days) it's better than waiting two hours for a spectrophotometer to do its job. I also feel like I'm moving on to the more practical stage of research because now we're only using compounds that are known to have antimicrobial properties, and now we're more focused on what concentrations of antimicrobial work best and on working out functional problems (for example, the niacin seemed to cause a hydrophobic reaction in the casing as it would curl up around the edges after it was placed on a piece of cheese). I also realized today that protein/wax coatings are commonly used on fruits and vegetables, which I never really though about before. Every day I work on this project I get a little more interested in keeping up with it. I'm becoming more aware of just how many different people and places could be affected and I love being a part of it.