Soy Protein (eBook)

Dr. Rakesh Kumar has got his postdoctoral training between Sept. 2006 to Oct. 2008 at School of Natural Polymer and Physics, Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, China. He obtained his Ph.D degree in Biopolymers from IIT Delhi, India in the year 2006. He has received his M.Tech degree from IIT BHU, Varanasi, India and M. Sc. from IIT Roorkee, India in 1998 and 1996, respectively.In Dec. 2008, he joined as a Senior Researcher at Material Science and Manufacturing Unit, Port Elizabeth, South Africa. In March 2012, he joined BIT Mesra, India as an Assistant Professor. Presently, he is an Associate Professor in Biotechnology Program at Central University of South Bihar, Patna.Dr Kumar focuses his research on soy protein isolate, polylactic acid and polyfurfuryl alchol based biopolymers and biocomposites. Dr. Kumar has published more than 34 original research papers in the peer-reviewed journals. He has delivered several talks at National and International conferences. He was awarded Chinese Patent from his postdoctoral work. CSIR, South Africa has filed South African and World Patent for his innovative work entitled "e;Polyfurfuryl Alcohol Based Materials"e;.Dr Kumar has written one text book on Nanoscience and edited two books from NOVA Publisher, USA. He is an expert reviewer of projects from National Science Centre, Poland. Dr. Kumar is working on biopolymers and bioplastics for the past 14 years and has successfully completed 2 research projects as PI and Co-PI funded by UGC-CSIR (India). He has worked for DST(South Africa)-CSIR(South Africa)-Airbus(Germany) as well as DST(South Africa)-CSIR(South Africa) projects. Soy protein is abundantly present in soybeans, which have in the past been termed as "e;wonder beans"e;. Soy flour, soy protein concentrate and soy protein isolate can be extracted from soybeans after removing the oil components. After the removal of oil components, one can use protein components as milk, paneer, cheese and sauce. The best feature of soybean is that it possesses medicinal properties, and hence can be consumed as a main course for nutrients and sustenance. Consumption of soy-based products is also helpful in reducing the chances of several hormone dependent diseases such as cancer, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease and menopausal symptoms. Additionally, soybean can be used to prepare bioplastics and biofibres. The book contains ten chapters and is written so as to give the readers the multiple benefits of soy protein as food. This book also discusses the properties of edible soy protein films, with special emphasis on their mechanical properties; these mechanical properties can be determined experimentally. Theoretically, the mechanical properties of soy protein film can be determined by a statistical tool known as the Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The basic concept of RSM is discussed in one of the chapter of this book. The reader will benefit greatly by reading this book.Target Audience:The target audience for this title will be researcher working in the area of medicinal values of soy protein and also one who wants to explore soy protein as biofilms and biofibres.