June 8, 2016

Cereal Science graduate student Maneka Malalgoda won third place in the Elsevier poster competition at the 13^th International Hydrocolloids Conference held in Guelph, Canada, May 16-21, 2016. Her poster, titled Gliadin functionality in the gluten network: role of omega-gliadin proteins, was part of the work she completed during her M.S. research. Malalgoda’s advisor is Dr. Senay Simsek, Bert L. D’Appolonia Cereal Science and Technology of Wheat Endowed Associate Professor.

Malalgoda’s research looked at historical and modern hard red spring wheat released in North Dakota from 1910-2013. The main objective of the study was to determine how protein chemistry in spring wheat changed over the last century.

In this study she determined that the improvements in dough quality which occurred over time could be related to the quantitative increase in glutenin and certain gliadin proteins. The functionality of the gliadin proteins and its individual components has long been debated, and Malalgoda’s results suggested that a certain fraction called the omega-gliadins could be associated with favorable dough qualities.

Malalgoda recently completed her M.S. degree in Cereal Science and began work on her Ph.D. soon after her graduation, continuing to work under the guidance of Dr. Simsek. She hopes to conduct more research in the area of wheat proteins and carbohydrates.

Source: Senay Simsek, 701-231-7737, senay.simsek@ndsu.edu, and Maneka Malalgoda, maneka.malalgoda@ndsu.edu
Editor: Kamie Beeson, 701-231-7123, kamie.a.beeson@ndsu.edu