The New ISF Lectureship Series
Hosted by the Canadian Section of the AOCS
This inaugural ISF Lectureship Series was held in conjunction with the 98th AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo.
Founded in 1954, The International Society for Fat Research (ISF) is a federation of national and regional scientific associations active in the areas of fats, oils, and lipids. Currently, 25 associations comprise the ISF.
The ISF mission is to stimulate the exchange of high quality information about fats, oils, lipids, and related materials through global cooperation with fats and oils organizations by: enhancing meetings through excellent, thought-provoking programming; and attracting a larger, more international delegate base to meetings
To accomplish its mission, the ISF provides keynote lectures for presentation at a meeting of one of the member societies.
ISF Plenary Lectures
Kaufmann Memorial Lecture
From Molecules to Crystal Networks -- How to Feature the Physical Functionality of Fats
Dr. Kiyotaka Sato, Department of Biofunctional Science and Technology, Graduate School of Biosphere Science, Hiroshima University, Japan
Since 1974, the International Society for Fat Research has honored H. P. Kaufmann, the founder of ISF, by holding the Kaufmann Memorial Lecture every two years. The lecturers have been among the best-known names in international fats and oils science. Continuing with this tradition, the ISF Lectureship Series at the 98th AOCS Annual Meeting will feature a presentation by Dr. Sato, one of the world’s leading scientists in the physical chemistry of fats, oils, and lipids.
Dr. Kiyotaka Sato is interested in finding optimal ways of designing materials with tailored functionalities of fats, based on the principles underlying the formation processes of fat structures including molecular structures, primary particles, flocs, and network formation, together with the influence of thermodynamic and kinetic factors. Dr. Sato's presentation highlighted the polymorphic structures, the mixing behaviors, and the crystallization properties of principal fats, as they relate to the physical states of bulk, emulsion, and gel. Special attention was paid to materials design of trans-alternatives.
Monday, May 14, 2007, 4:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Statin Drugs: Why We Need to Reevaluate Their Role in the Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease?
Professor Dr. Heiner Bucher, Institut fur Klinische Epidemiologie, Universitatsspital Basel, Switzerland
Dr. Heiner Bucher is an internationally recognized epidemiologist who has written almost a 100 peer reviewed manuscripts as well as 16 book chapters and 2 books. His presentation in Québec City addressed work that his research group has done, in which they conducted a meta analysis of 97 human studies that looked at various modes (both dietary and pharmaceutical) of serum lipid alteration and their impact on mortality. In comparing the effect of lipid altering drugs (statins, fibrates, etc) and dietary modifications (omega-3 fatty acids, niacin, etc.), Bucher’s team concluded that two factors (statin drugs and omega-3 fatty acids) consistently improved mortality. When the two were compared, the omega-3 fatty acids did better then the statin drugs (Studer et al.,“Effect of Different Antilipidemic Agents and Diets on Mortality”, Archives of Internal Medicine, vol 165, Apr 11, 2005). This work is especially important since dietary omega-3 fatty acids are inexpensive, as compared to statin drugs, and have few, if any, negative side effects.
Bio-based Alternatives to Chemical Feedstocks for Surfactants and Detergents
Thomas Dorr, Undersecretary of USDA, Washington D.C., USA
Prior to the 1930's, soaps and detergents were made from natural feedstocks, primarily tallow. With the synthesis of synthetic surfactants in the 1930's the industry very quickly converted to petrochemical feedstocks and these have been the mainstay for the industry over the past 70 years. Now, however, as oil becomes scarcer rising petrochemical feedstock pricing is forcing the industry to look again at natural and bio-derived feeds. Oleochemical feedstocks, especially palm oils, are finding greater utility as the building blocks for soaps and detergents. In addition, there is considerable effort toward development of economical bio-based manufacturing of other important raw materials like acrylic acid and propylene glycol. This talk will focus on the growing importance of these alternative feedstocks to the soap and detergent industry.
This Plenary Lecture and the Hot Topic Symposium then immediately followed and explored the current state of the art in bio-refining and biomass conversion and what the future may hold for biological routes to surfactant and detergent feedstocks.