Rudolf und Henriette Schmidt-Burkhardt Foundation: A new round of funding
Rudolf und Henriette Schmidt-Burkhardt Foundation supports food research at FAU
The Food Safety and Quality research unit at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) is to receive support from the Rudolf und Henriette Schmidt-Burkhardt Foundation for a further three years. The foundation has decided to continue the existing funding awarded in 2019 until the end of 2027. The funding provides financing for the leadership of a junior research group, innovative and practice-oriented research projects and funding for early career researchers. At the same time, the project makes an important contribution to connecting the food research community in the region.
“The supply of sustainably-produced and healthy food is a challenge for society and is reliant on scientific research,” says Dr. Günther Beckstein, Chairperson of the Rudolf und Henriette Schmidt-Burkhardt Foundation. “With our funding, we want to support food chemistry research at FAU and drive forward advances in technology that benefit the general public.”
“We are very pleased about the extension of the funding from the Schmidt-Burkhardt Foundation,” explains FAU President Prof. Dr. Joachim Hornegger. “The foundation’s generous support allows us to implement research projects irrespective of the University’s budget and offers opportunities for far-reaching collaborations with partners in research and industry.”
Focus on health and consumer safety
The funding will finance a position for a head of a junior research group as well as various projects that focus in particular on the production of healthy foods. “One focus of our research lies in making food healthier and in protecting consumers,” says Prof. Dr. Monika Pischetsrieder, Chair of Food Chemistry at FAU and also a member of the Scientific Advisory Board on Agricultural Policy, Food and Consumer Health Protection at the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
Pischetsrieder and her team of researchers investigate, for example, how to glean antimicrobial peptides from chickpeas to use as highly-effective natural preservatives. In another project, the results gained by the researchers from Erlangen mean that, amongst others, potashes no longer require cholates, which are harmful to health. In addition, FAU researchers are hunting down cases of consumer fraud by analyzing whether products do actually contain what’s stated on the label. To do so, they are developing universal detection methods that enable them to find unexpected ingredients and fakes.
“The funding from the Schmidt-Burkhardt Foundation enables us to push forward this important application-oriented research,” explains Monika Pischetsrieder. “We are very grateful for this.”
Further information:
Prof. Dr. Monika Pischetsrieder
Phone: +49 9131 85 65592
monika.pischetsrieder@fau.de