Luke Wayne Browning, Huafu Wang, James Ward Taylor, Pete Wilde, Marc Rodriguez-Garcia, Lynette Anne Makins Holland and Tuomas P. J. Knowles

Luke Browning works as Senior Protein Scientist for Xampla, following a PhD and Post-doc at Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, and two years in industry as a manufacturing and QC scientist. His background and research themes have included the detection, quantification and characterisation of various plant proteins in fundamental, agricultural and biomaterials contexts. At Xampla, he leads on ways to extract and manipulate the physico-chemical properties of plant proteins from a variety of sources for producing biodegradable microcapsules, films and coatings.

Huafu Wang worked as a Senior Analytical Chemist for Xampla. From a background in chemistry and biochemistry, he has extensive experience in analytical method development and validation for beverage, food and pharmaceutical sectors. His role in this paper involved HPLC analyses for vitamin D.

James Ward Taylor works as Innovation Manager for Xampla, following a PhD at the University of Glasgow, and a Post-doc at Radboud University, Nijmegen. From a background in physical organic chemistry and self-assembly of soft matter, he researches new ways to control the self-assembly of proteins and other biomolecules to produce edible, biodegradable microcapsules, films and coatings. His role in this paper was in the microencapsulation process, using Xampla’s technology to effectively encapsulate vitamin D, and demonstrating its controlled release properties.

Professor Pete Wilde is an Emeritus Fellow of Quadram Institute. His early research focused on the interfacial properties of proteins and their role in food functionality such as foams and emulsions. Later, his research investigated how food microstructure changes during digestion and how this influences nutrient absorption, satiety, and metabolic health. He has a broad interest in how food structure impacts health outcomes, including obesity and type 2 diabetes, and how digestion can be modulated to improve physiological responses. He has published over 135 papers, delivered invited international lectures, and holds editorial and honorary academic positions in the field of food science.

Marc Rodriguez-Garcia is Xampla’s co-founder, having developed the technology with Professor Knowles at the University of Cambridge. With a PhD from the University of Glasgow, his expertise lies in the use of natural biopolymers in microencapsulation and other structured materials. Marc is a unique CTO with incredible scientific knowledge combined with strong commercial acumen.