As people age, they often lose muscle and bone strength, which can lead to frailty, poor mobility, and a higher risk of fractures—especially in postmenopausal women. Our research explores how a little-used dairy ingredient called whey protein phospholipid concentrate (WPPC) might help slow or prevent this decline. Early studies in young animals showed that WPPC could support bone growth, suggesting it may also help maintain strong bones and muscles later in life. This project will identify the key nutrients in WPPC, test their effects in both young and aging models, and explore how they might promote healthier aging. In doing so, we hope to uncover a new, value-added use for dairy byproducts that supports both human health and sustainability in the dairy industry.

Whey protein phospholipid concentrate (WPPC), a byproduct of whey protein production, is often discarded or used as animal feed, despite being rich in valuable nutrients like choline. This project aims to evaluate the nutritional benefits and safety of WPPC in postmenopausal women, a group at high risk for choline deficiency. Researchers will assess how well the body absorbs choline from WPPC and monitor potential health impacts, with the goal of transforming this underused byproduct into a valuable, sustainable human food ingredient.

Cold plasma has shown promise in safely reducing bacteria, cleaning surfaces, treating water, and even boosting plant health. To build on this potential, the research team is investing in new tools to better control and scale up cold plasma treatments for real-world use. The project includes the installation of specialized equipment that can generate plasma consistently and treat larger samples with greater precision. A new system will also boost production of plasma-activated water (PAW), increasing output fivefold. This special type of water has the potential to safely disinfect produce, protect crops from disease, and treat contaminated water – all without using harsh chemicals.

Together with monitoring tools that ensure the safety and consistency of the treatments, this new setup will position UW-Platteville students and researchers to test and develop cold plasma solutions that support a safer food system and a healthier environment.

This project explores the feasibility of establishing a Choice and Sensory Evaluation Lab (CSEL) at UW–River Falls to support research, teaching, and industry collaboration. The lab would help Wisconsin’s dairy and food industry stay competitive by providing sensory evaluation and consumer preference analysis, guiding product development and market alignment. Beyond benefiting industry partners, the lab would enhance student learning by integrating hands-on research in food marketing, sensory science, and consumer behavior. Additionally, faculty research on food choice, market trends, and sensory methodologies would be strengthened through interdisciplinary collaboration. This initiative also aligns with the priority of the Dairy Innovation Hub to support farm businesses and communities by ensuring dairy producers and processors have access to consumer-driven insights, fostering economic resilience. The study will assess infrastructure feasibility, industry demand, commercialization potential, financial viability, and academic integration to determine whether the lab can be a sustainable addition to the university’s resources.

Groundwater contamination is a serious issue in Wisconsin, affecting both private wells and larger aquifers that supply drinking water to the majority of residents. Some contaminants occur naturally, while others are introduced through human activities, particularly agriculture. These pollutants can pose significant health risks, including increased cancer rates and impaired immune function. Recent statewide surveys have revealed a growing presence of agrichemicals in well water, with contamination levels often linked to agricultural land use. Western Wisconsin is especially vulnerable due to its geology, with shallow bedrock and permeable soils allowing pollutants to seep into groundwater more easily. This project aims to establish experimental field plots to monitor soil and water conditions over time, providing valuable data for researchers studying contamination trends. A key focus will be the presence and movement of neonicotinoid insecticides, which have recently been detected in local groundwater despite historically low statewide levels. Understanding how these chemicals interact with soil and water will help guide better land management practices, such as cover cropping and reduced tillage, that could mitigate pollution risks and protect Wisconsin’s vital water resources.

The availability of U.S. manufactured fresh cheese is limited by the short shelf-life of the product. Freezing is effective in extending shelf-life and availability of high perishable foods, but it results in severe textural degradations in high moisture cheeses (e.g., cream cheese). An extended shelf-life will reduce the food loss due to quality deterioration and increase the availability of U.S. dairy products for domestic and international market. However, there is no effective and clean-label agent to prevent the freeze-induced textural degradation in high moisture cheeses yet. We intend to identify a dairy protein-based ingredient that will inhibit ice crystal growth thus prevent or delay the freezing-induced quality deterioration. The standard splat assay is a common method utilized to characterize the ice crystal inhibition activity of ingredients which requires image capturing by the polarized light microscope and annealing under various temperature in a cryo-stage. This proposed work would enable the production of the novel dairy protein-based anti-freezing ingredients with dual function as antioxidants, which can be used to maintain the quality and prolong the shelf-life of dairy products such as high moisture cheeses.

Overall, the goal of this proposed work is to establish research capacities in the evaluation of the ice crystal inhibition activity of dairy protein-based ingredients after hydrolysis or chemical modification using the standard splat assay. This project aligns with the focus on “Enriching human health and nutrition,” as it aims to enhance food processing techniques to improve product quality and extend shelf-life.

The dairy industry produces approximately 190 million tons of whey per year as a byproduct, often causing environmental concerns due to improper disposal. The lactose in whey is a valuable resource that can be further utilized instead of being disposed of or solely processed into powders for exportation. Simultaneously, the market is experiencing escalating demands for low-calorie sweeteners, such as tagatose, and health-enhancing prebiotics. This project will transform whey into tagatose and prebiotics. The major objectives include 1) identifying and elucidating efficient isomerization processes to convert the galactose, derived from lactose in whey, into tagatose; 2) developing a sustainable process for the production of prebiotic galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) utilizing whey permeate; and 3) assess the economic viability and environmental impact of this innovative process through TEA and LCA. The methods involve a combination of lab-scale experiments, a range of analytical work, and rigorous data analytics. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop a scalable, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly method for tagatose and GOS production from whey, establishing a win-win situation for both the dairy and food industries. The impacts will be multifaceted: reducing environmental pollution from whey waste, adding economic value to a byproduct, bring a form of economic development to farm business and community sections, and offering health-beneficial ingredients to consumers. Xiaolei Shi and Jarryd Featherman are also CO-PIs on this project.

Probiotics are commonly used as a prophylactic treatment of various gut disorders. However, gastrointestinal survival of probiotics is highly variable among individuals. Approaches to boost and optimize intestinal survival are therefore much welcomed and could even boost probiotic efficacy in the clinic. Whey protein phospholipid concentrate (WPPC) is an underutilized dairy stream, harboring glycoproteins that could be used to promote intestinal survival of probiotics. WPPC-derived glycoproteins possess glycan sites that can specifically bind to probiotics surface receptors, thereby improving their viability and their attachment to epithelial cells, which is corroborated by our exciting preliminary data. In this study, we will use Limosilactobacillus reuteri (L. reuteri)
as our probiotic test species. Select strains bind intestinal mucins and are established probiotics based on their ability to modulate the immune system, to increase the intestinal barrier function, and to have antimicrobial activity against notorious pathogens. We hypothesize that the formation of WPPC-L. reuteri complexes improves survival in both the food matrix and in the gastrointestinal tract. To test our hypothesis, we will pursue the following aims: 1) to increase the purity of WPPC glycoproteins to promote the formation of WPPC-L. reuteri complexes; 2) to determine the binding efficacy of glycoproteins to complex with L. reuteri strains and to establish the extent by which probiotic survival in yogurt is impacted; 3) to determine gastrointestinal survival of the probiotic
complexed ± WPPC. The expected outcome of our research is that its successful completion will have delivered a next-generation dairy food by leveraging underutilized materials in the dairy stream, which will improve WPPC marketability and increase profits for dairy farmers and processors. Jan-Peter van Pijkeren is collaborating on this work.

Dairy powders occupy the majority of the exported dairy product market, a $6.5 billion industry, likely due to their stability, customizability, and functionality. Furthermore, current research has targeted value-added dairy powder generation for applications like functional ingredients (e.g., buttermilk powder), infant nutrition (e.g., infant formula), performance nutrition (e.g., protein powder), and personalized nutrition (e.g., lactoferrin), highlighting the importance of dairy powders within the dairy industry. Although many companies produce dairy-based powders and there are many applications for novel research related to dairy powders, there is not currently equipment available to produce dairy-based powders at a reasonable scale at UW–River Falls. For this reason, this proposal supports the purchase of a benchtop spray dryer for its applications in research expansion, teaching opportunities, and industry collaboration. This equipment, which is not readily available at other universities, would set UW–River Falls apart for research, academic, and industry-related opportunities

Nitrate contamination of groundwater in Wisconsin affects the health of rural residents and the bottom-line of farming operations. This proposal seeks funding to initiate a collaboration between UWRF and UW–Madison faculty with the objective of improving our understanding of how and whether nitrate concentrations fluctuate in wells in response to factors such as rain events and nutrient management practices. The long-term outcome of the collaboration will be the development and deployment of continuous nitrate monitoring systems in residential and farm wells across western Wisconsin. In the near term we seek support to grow an existing well water-quality database, collect additional geochemical information on a subset of wells that will have continuous monitors installed, and allow faculty and students from the two institutions to grow their nascent collaboration. This project will leverage data from the ongoing well monitoring program that the proposal PI has carried out with the farmer-led Western Wisconsin Conservation Council (WWCC) for the last seven years. We will identify wells with nitrate concentration that vary on a seasonal basis for additional geochemical characterization and continuous monitoring. Faculty in mechanical engineering and soil science from UW–Madison will begin to design and test continuous monitoring systems with feedback from the proposal PI and WWCC members. Ultimately, we seek to develop a system that empowers rural communities to track their nitrate exposure in real-time and to identify areas where changes in nutrient management will have immediate positive effects for well water quality.