Research Program

Molecular complementation to decipher the role of arabinoxylans in end-use quality of hard winter and spring wheats

Test arabinoxylan structure-function relationships and connect to dough/baking performance to inform quality improvement strategies.

Exploring biochemical variabilities in arabinoxylans of HRS wheat and their impact on water absorption capacity and health benefits

Characterize arabinoxylan composition and relate to flour water absorption to support breeding and nutrition/health-related targets.

Improving the Quality of Sourdough Bread Made from HRS Wheat

Optimizing the flour blends, fermentation method and time to improve the sourdough bread quality.

HRS Frozen Dough Product Improvement

Optimizing the dough formulation to improve the quality and shelf life of the frozen dough.

Clean Label Bread Production using HRS wheat

Optimizing the dough formulation by excluding the bread additives and increasing the HRS percentage to achieve desirable bread quality.

Development of HRS Wheat–Based Frozen and Par-Baked Dough for Clean-Label, Value-Added Functional Food and Export Markets

This project will advance HRS wheat as a premium, clean-label–oriented ingredient for frozen dough systems, creating a pathway from North Dakota farms to higher-value domestic and international markets.

High-Throughput Hyperspectral Imaging for DON Risk Screening in Hard Red Spring Wheat

The overall goal of this project is to develop and validate rapid, non-destructive, AI-enabled hyperspectral imaging (HSI) screening tools for HRS wheat that (i) detect FDK severity and (ii) estimate DON contamination risk with decision-focused performance near 1.0 mg/kg.

Processing and end-product quality evaluation of organically grown HRS wheat in the great plains in USA.

Understanding the quality performance of the organically grown HRS wheats which might have a different nutrition level compared to the conventional growing system.

Environmental stability and genetic control of arabinoxylan properties in hard red spring wheat: implications for dietary fiber, water absorption, and end-product quality

Quantify environmental stability and genetic control of arabinoxylan traits; link arabinoxylan properties to water absorption and end-product performance; deliver data/targets for breeding and quality improvement.

PFAS-free greaseproof papers & edible bakery coatings from wheat bran arabinoxylans

Extract/modify wheat bran arabinoxylans for barrier functionality; develop and evaluate PFAS-free greaseproof paper prototypes and edible bakery coatings; assess performance and scalability.

HSI imaging and machine learning based prediction modeling of wheat quality

The overall goal of this project is to develop and validate rapid, non-destructive, AI-enabled hyperspectral imaging (HSI) based prediction model for wheat quality traits.