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NEWS STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Jennifer Snyder 202-331-1634 or Shannon Shoesmith 304-229-6202 October 28, 2002 CORN REFINERS HONOR OUTSTANDING RESEARCHERS The Corn Refiners Association (CRA) is proud to announce the 2002 winners of the CRA Outstanding Paper and Poster Awards. The awards provide recognition to outstanding researchers for their efforts to understand and improve the corn refining industry. The awardees were selected during the American Association of Cereal Chemists' (AACC) annual meeting in Montréal, Québec, Canada on October 13-17, 2002. The 2002 CRA/AACC Outstanding Paper Award winner is Dr. Xian-Zhong Han of Purdue University's Food Science Department. The winner of the 2002 CRA/AACC Outstanding Poster Award is Marie-Astrid Ottenhof of the Department of Food Science at the University of Nottingham located in Loughborough, United Kingdom. Over 440 papers and posters were presented at the meeting with 50 focusing specifically on the corn refining process or its end products. "CRA is pleased to honor these imaginative and innovative scientists," CRA Senior Director of Regulatory and Technical Affairs Jennifer Snyder said. "We are proud to continue a long history of strong support for research and science aimed at improving the products and processing technologies of the corn wet milling industry." Han's paper, "Detection of proteins in starch granule channels," is the first report of the existence of proteins in channels found in starch granules. These channels are portals for the infusion of water, enzymes and chemicals into the granule interior to promote gelatinization and enzymatic or chemical modification of granule structure. Proteins in these channels are potential barriers to the action of these agents. Accordingly, information about their size and structure can lead to improved processes for modifying starch properties. Ottenhof's poster, "A multi-technique study of the processes occurring during amylopectin retrogradation," is aimed at understanding the molecular basis for the starch reordering process know as retrogradation. The techniques measure long range molecular ordering, or crystallization, and its effects as well as prior short range ordering, which generally has not been measured. Since retrogradation is an all encompassing occurrence in starch utilization, the ability to distinguish and control these two ordering forces is important to developing improved or new starch products. For more information on the corn refining industry, visit the Corn Capsules newsletter page. 
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