Clare Mills

Programme Leader

Contact Details:

Institute of Food Research,
Norwich Research Park,
Colney, Norwich,
NR4 7UA
UK
clare.mills@ifr.ac.uk

Research interests

My research is focussed around protein biochemistry and physical biochemical approaches to understanding the relationship between biophysical properties of proteins and their structural attributes. This is set in the context of biochemical and biophysical events in the gastrointestinal tract. different types of foods may elicit a variety of physiological and psychological responses which will have a direct impact on our health and well being. I lead a programme of work which seeks to gain an understanding the rules governing the assembly of natural and fabricated food structures (including nano-scale structures), their subsequent disassembly during digestion and uptake by the gut epithelium. One of the model biological responses which we are using to investigate this is the role the physicochemical behaviour of food structures play in the development and manifestation of ige-mediated food allergy. A bioinformatic analysis of food allergens of plant and animal origin has shown a restricted membership of protein superfamilies, supporting molecular and structural approaches to allergen classification. We are now seeking to discover why certain protein scaffolds dominate known allergens from foods, how the structural and biological properties conferred by these scaffolds may predisposes a protein to becoming a food allergen, and how this may be altered by food processing and the food matrix. In particular we have been investigating how thermal denaturation and adsorption at interfaces results in formation of partially-folded states and aggregated protein networks. The impact of such changes, together with biomolecular interactions with other components, such as lipids, on the kinetics of simulated gastrointestinal proteolysis is being investigated using proteomic approaches. this is complimented by studies on the effect on allergencity, in terms of, for example human allergic ige-binding capacity, undertaken in collaboration with researchers around the world.  In relation to food allergy I lead a project worth €14.25m with 63 partners from across europe to tackle the problems of food allergy called Europrevall (http://www.europrevall.org/). I have around 100 refereed publications and have edited two books.

Committees and other bodies

2005-Present EFSA self-task food allergy working group of the GMO panel

2006-Present Food Standards Agency Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes

2008-Present BBSRC DRINC steering group

2009-Present BBSRC Committee C (core member)