Jian-Yong WU, PhD, Associate Professor
Dept. of Applied Biology & Chemical Technology (ABCT), Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Lecture for Students and Teachers
Title: Composition, property and bioactivity relationships of fungal polysaccharides
Time: May. 19th, 2017, 14:30 am.
Place: 203 Meeting Room, School of Food and Biological Engineering
Introduction to Jian-Yong Wu
Jian-Yong Wu is an associate professor in the department of Applied Biology & Chemical Technology (ABCT), Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He received a B.A in Environmental Engineering, Hebei Institute of Chemical Engineering, an MS in Chemical Engineering, Tianjin University and a PhD in Biochemical Engineering, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada. He joined the faculty in 1994 and is a member of the field of functional food. His research fields include biotechnology and bioprocesses of medicinal fungi and plant tissue cultures; gunctional food and medicinal chemistry (properties and bioactivities of natural polysaccharides); ultrasound-assisted extraction and processing of food and medicinal natural products; prebiotics, probiotics and gut microbiota. He has completed successfully >30 research projects as PI; published over 150 full refereed journal papers (115 as corresponding author in SCI journals); ~4000 Scopus citations, H-index 40; presented > 60 international conference papers (10 invited talks); served as referee (reviewing manuscripts) for >30 SCI journals; and supervised (since 1994) >15 PhD and MSc (MPhil); >20 RA’s and PostDocs. He is an editorial Board Member: Biotechnology Applied Biochemistry (since 2012).
Abstract
This lecture mainly includes four aspects: (1) Mushrooms, polysaccharides and health products. (2) Mechanisms of action of fungal PS and gut microbiota; (3) Prebiotic function of Cs-HK1 EPS and degraded fractions Cs-HK1; and (4) Fractionation and analysis of fungal PS and antioxidant activity studies. Summary and future work: (1) Polysaccharides from higher fungi (and other sources) are rich and diverse sources of nutraceutical ingredients, offering many opportunities for research and development. (2) Technical challenges for PS research: Isolation and purification of desired PS structures with reproducibility; Determination of PS structures with reliability. (3) Future research directions: Prebiotic functions (on gut microbiota) and other health benefits of polysaccharides from edible and medicinal fungi; Relationships of functions to molecular properties (structures, composition and MW range).
(School of Food and Biological Engineering)