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AOCS Biotechnology Division
Newsletter September 2007

2007 Biotechnology Division Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Dr. Yuji Shimada

The Biotechnology Division Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to Dr. Yuji Shimada.

Dr. Yuji Shimada received this year's Biotechnology Division Lifetime Achievement Award at the Annual Meeting in Québec City. The Award was given to him in a special session on Tuesday, May 15, 2007, in a special Biotech session dedicated solely to the Award Lecture and the Award ceremony following the lecture. Dr. Shimada is the Director-General of the Osaka Municipal Technical Research Institute in Osaka, Japan, and has been a leading proponent of biodiesel production and use in Japan and internationally. The abstract for his presentation appears below. The Nisshin Corporation sponsored the Award, and the Biotechnology Division thanks them for their generous support.

Abstract of "Biotechnology Lifetime Achievement Award Lecture"

Application of Lipase Reactions to Oil and Fat Industry
Yuji Shimada
Director-General
Osaka Municipal Technical Research Institute
1-6-50 Morinomiya, Joto-ku, Osaka 536-8553, Japan

Lipases are enzymes that hydrolyze ester bond of long-chain fatty acid and alcohol. The enzymes also catalyze esterification and transesterification under the conditions without addition of water. In addition, lipases have fatty acid specificity, alcohol specificity, positional specificity, and acylglycerol specificity. Combination of lipase-catalyzed reaction and substrate specificity makes possible precise processing of oils and fats: such as, production of an oil containing high concentration of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) by combination of hydrolysis and fatty acid specificity; production of monoacylglycerols by combination of esterification and acylglycerol specificity; production of structured triacylglycerol by combination of transesterification and positional specificity; efficient purification of PUFAs by combination of esterification and fatty acid specificity; and purification of oil and fat related compounds from unutilized materials by using peculiar property of lipase that is to recognize specific substrate. These processes applicable to oil and fat industry are introduced.

More information about the award is available at http://www.aocs.org/member/awards/.

Also in this newsletter:

Notes From the Chair, by Tom McKeon

99th AOCS Annual Meeting & Expo

Minutes of Biotechnology Division Board Meeting

Crop Biotech News, by David Hildebrand

3rd Annual Meeting of the International Society of Biotechnology and Biocatalysis

Biotechnology Division web page
AOCS, 2710 S. Boulder, Urbana, IL 61802-6996 USA