º£½ÇºÚÁÏ

Contact

• workRoom A29 Food Sciences
  Sutton Bonington Campus
  Sutton Bonington
  Leicestershire
  LE12 5RD
  UK
• work0115 951 6147
• david.gray@nottingham.ac.uk

Biography

Dr. David Gray

Associate Professor in Food Lipid Chemistry

Lipids are required in the human diet; these include fat-soluble vitamins (e.g. vitamin A and E), and essential fatty acids (omega-3 and omega-6). I am interested in novel, bio-innovative approaches of incorporating lipids into the diet to improve health, and to reduce the impact on the environment.

Current Research Interests

• Biomaterials approach to sustainable ingredients for food and feed
• Alternative sources of omega-3 fatty acids
• Characterising the functional and nutritional properties of oil bodies (oleosomes) and chloroplasts ex-vivo
• Digestive fate of plant-derived multicomponent membranes
• Galactolipid digestion in humans
• Novel, sustainable processing of oilseeds without organic solvents

Education

• Keil School Scotland (1978-1984)
• University of Aberdeen (1984-1988) 2.1 Hons Biochemistry
• University of Birmingham (1988-1992) PhD Plant Lipid Biochemistry
• º£½ÇºÚÁÏ (1993- ) School of Biosciences, Division of Food, Nutrition and Dietetics

Personal

Live with my wife Karen (three sons, Joshua, Alex and Cameron now flown the nest). Involved in a local church and co-lead a student group. I wait patiently (still!) for a revival in Scottish rugby and enjoy the occasional game of golf.

Expertise Summary

• Extracting and measuring food-based lipids such as: triacylglyecerols; essential fatty acids; tocopherol; carotenoids;
• Physico-chemical characterisation of oil bodies and chloroplasts recovered from a range of plant material
• Oxidative stability of oil/lipid material
• In-vitro digestion of plant-based organelles

Teaching Summary

A desire for shaping coherent courses, with a clear trajectory of content flow, and of concept development, has driven Dr. Gray to be proactive in developing food-related degree programmes and… read more

Research Summary

At the heart of Dr. Gray's research activity is a biomaterials approach to sustainable nutrition and ingredients. He has developed methods to isolate/recover lipid-rich organelles from plant material… read more

Recent Publications

• WATTANKUL J., SYAMILA M., BRIARS R., AYED C., PRICE R., DARWISH R., GEDI M.A. and GRAY D.A., 2021. Food Chemistry. 334, 127589
• DE CHIRICO S, DI BARI V, ROMERO GUZMAN MJ, NIKIFORIDIS C, FOSTER T and GRAY D, 2020. Food Chemistry. 316, 126355
• RANDA DARWISH, MOHAMED A. GEDI, PATCHANIYA AKEPACH, HIRUT ASSAYE, ABDELRAHMAN S. ZAKY and DAVID A. GRAY, 2020. Applied Sciences. 10(19), 6736
• ROMERO-GUZMAN M.J., PETRIS V., DE CHIRICO S., DI BARI V., GRAY D.A., BOOM R.M. and NIKIFORIDIS C.V., 2020. Food Chemistry. 306,

• View all publications

A desire for shaping coherent courses, with a clear trajectory of content flow, and of concept development, has driven Dr. Gray to be proactive in developing food-related degree programmes and courses at the º£½ÇºÚÁÏ. In 2001, Dr. Gray championed the development of a new undergraduate course 'Food Science and Nutrition'. In addition to teaching at undergraduate and postgraduate levels Dr. Gray has been instrumental in regularly leading colleagues to collectively improve the structure and content of the 'Food Science' and related Honours degree courses.

Fostering an inclusive, collaborative, supportive culture within my classes is something Dr. Gray strives to achieve; he believes we are made for relationships and community; it is where we thrive. This paradigm shapes his teaching style and his inclination to arrange occasional social activities to help the students to make connections with each other. Several factors influence his choice of teaching methods; at the most fundamental level Dr. Gray's approach is to highlight key facts and principles that will equip students with an ability to think through problems and to innovate. Students are encouraged to exercise their ability to identify unifying principles by forming connections between different modules/disciplines.

Dr. Gray is also interested in embedding research into the curriculum. He designed a new module called 'Trends in Food and Nutrition Research' which has been refined since its launch in the academic year of 2013-2014. Currently it runs in the autumn of the final year, offering students an opportunity to find out about our research before they chose their final year research project title, and to train them in the research skills they will need to carry out this work.

Dr. Gray has overseen the implementation of more active learning for students. One approach to active learning is Problem-Based Learning (PBL) 'the learning which results from the process of working towards the understanding of, or resolution of, a problem' - it is not just 'solving problems'. 'Active learning which is stimulated by and focussed around a clinical, community or scientific problem.' (Davis and Harden, 1999). The most powerful learning comes when a student is dealing with uncertainty. Students need to acquire the process skills, not just 'content', therefore they all have to participate. Dr. Gray was inspired by witnessing the PBL-centric teaching practice in the Vet School, and along with Emma Weston created a PBL module. 'Food -Technical Team Challenges' is a second year 20 credit module delivered entirely through PBL. Students develop skills in diagnosing and solving challenges/problems relating to the development, manufacture, distribution and/or storage of food products. Students in groups are presented with a challenge/problem, they then gather relevant information, synthesise an argument, and make recommendations to the company executive board. Each student is given a role within the group, such as chair or scribe, and these roles are rotated at the start of a new problem.

Dr. David Gray - Course Director 'Food Science and Nutrition'

Undergraduate Courses (Modules)

• Food Material and Ingredients BIOS101
• International Food Commodities BIOS1024
• Processing and Sensory Evaluation of Food BIOS2025
• Food-Technical Team Challenges BIOS2012
• Trends in Food and Nutrition Research BIOS3048
• Undergraduate Research Projects BIOS3040

Postgraduate Courses (Modules)

• Core Skills and Technologies of Food Manufacture
• Food Manufacturing Case Studies

Current Research

At the heart of Dr. Gray's research activity is a biomaterials approach to sustainable nutrition and ingredients. He has developed methods to isolate/recover lipid-rich organelles from plant material as functional ingredients for food or feed. This area of work not only has potential impact (social/health/developing world, and commercial benefits), it is of fundamental scientific interest.

Oleosomes (oil bodies) act as an energy store when oilseeds germinate. Their microstructure is lost during conventional oil extraction using organic solvents or high pressure crushing. Intact oleosomes can be recovered from oilseeds; ex-vivo (removed/isolated from their cellular environment) oleosomes disperse in water to form stable emulsions. Dr. Gray's research group probes the physico-chemical nature of these micron-sized lipid droplets. For example, they carry oil rich in essential fatty acids and lipophilic micronutrients, and the natural amphiphilic coat that surrounds the oil protects it against oxidation. Dr. Gray and his research group are also interested in how we digest these natural lipid droplets compared with processed emulsions.

Chloroplasts are organelles, ubiquitous in the biosphere, which convert sunlight energy into chemical energy. Dr. Gray's group has demonstrated that most of the nutrients in green plant material are concentrated in the chloroplast: omega-3 fatty acids; β-carotene (pro-vitamin A); lutein; tocopherol (vitamin E); phylloquinone (vitamin k₁); ascorbic acid (vitamin C); iron; and manganese. Waste/underutilised green biomass is therefore an untapped source of this cocktail of nutrients which can be 'extracted' by simply removing chloroplasts. Dr. Gray has developed a physical process to isolate/recover intact chloroplasts on a large scale. Such liberated and concentrated chloroplasts deliver more nutrients to the consumer than cell-bound chloroplasts since their digestion is not impeded by the cell wall. Dr. Gray is also investigating the role of chloroplast microstructure in the release of nutrients during digestion (bioaccessibility).

Sources of funding for this work include: BBSRC. EPSRC, Defra, Charitable Trusts, and Industry

Examples of external academic collaborators include: CNRS Marseille, France; University of Wageningen (Netherlands); University of Massachusetts (USA); Rothamsted Research International; University of York; University of Loughborough; Quadram Institute, Norwich; Kings College London; University of Manchester; University of Bath.

• WATTANKUL J., SYAMILA M., BRIARS R., AYED C., PRICE R., DARWISH R., GEDI M.A. and GRAY D.A., 2021. Food Chemistry. 334, 127589
• DE CHIRICO S, DI BARI V, ROMERO GUZMAN MJ, NIKIFORIDIS C, FOSTER T and GRAY D, 2020. Food Chemistry. 316, 126355
• RANDA DARWISH, MOHAMED A. GEDI, PATCHANIYA AKEPACH, HIRUT ASSAYE, ABDELRAHMAN S. ZAKY and DAVID A. GRAY, 2020. Applied Sciences. 10(19), 6736
• ROMERO-GUZMAN M.J., PETRIS V., DE CHIRICO S., DI BARI V., GRAY D.A., BOOM R.M. and NIKIFORIDIS C.V., 2020. Food Chemistry. 306,
• MOHAMAD N.J., WOLF B. and GRAY D.A., 2020. Spinach leaf and chloroplast lipid: A natural rheology modifier for chocolate? Food Research International. 133, 109193
• SAHAKA M., AMARA S., WATTANKUL J., GEDI M.A., ALDAI N., PARSIEGLA G., LECOMTE J., CHRISTELLER J.T., GRAY D.A., GONTERO B., VILLENEUVE P. and CARRIERE F., 2020. The digestion of galactolipids and its ubiquitous function in Nature for the uptake of the essential α-linolenic acid Food and Function. 11(8), 6710-6744
• GEDI MA, MAGEE KJ, DARWISH R, EAKPETCH P, YOUNG I and GRAY DA, 2019. Food & function. 10, 733-745
• TORCELLO-GOMEZ, AMELIA, GEDI, MOHAMED A., IBBETT, ROGER, HUSAIN, KHATIJA NAWAZ, BRIARS, RHIANNA and GRAY, DAVID, 2019. FOOD CHEMISTRY. 272, 18-25
• SYAMILA M., GEDI M.A., BRIARS R., AYED C. and GRAY D.A., 2019. Food Chemistry. 284, 188-197
• WATTANKUL J., SAHAKA M., AMARA S., SYAMILA M., GONTERO B., CARRIERE F. and GRAY D.A., 2019. In vitro digestion of galactolipids from chloroplast-rich fraction (CRF) of postharvest, pea vine field residue (haulm) and spinach leaves Food and Function. 10, 7806-7817
• SIMONE DE CHIRICO, VINCENZO DI BARI, TIM FOSTER and DAVID GRAY, 2018. Food Chemistry. 241, 419-426
• GEDI MA, BRIARS R, YUSELI F, ZAINOL N, DARWISH R, SALTER AM and GRAY DA, 2017. Journal of Food Science and Technology: J Food Sci Technol.
• ZHANG P, DI BARI V, BRIARS R, MAT TAHER Z, YUAN J, LIU G and GRAY DA, 2017. Journal of Food Quality.
• ASSAYE H, BELAY A and DESSE G, 2017. Journal of Applied Phycology. 30, 1597-1606
• MYRIAM M.L. GRUNDY, FREDERIC CARRIERE, ALAN R. MACKIE, DAVID A. GRAY and PETER J. BUTTERWORTH, 2016. The role of plant cell wall encapsulation and porosity in regulating lipolysis during the digestion of almond seeds Food and Function. 7(1), 69-78
• SAKUNKHUN MAKKHUN, AMIT KHOSLA, TIM FOSTER, DAVID JULIAN MCCLEMENTS, MYRIAM M. L. GRUNDY and DAVID A. GRAY, 2015. Impact of extraneous proteins on the gastrointestinal fate of sunflower seed (Helianthus annuus) oil bodies: a simulated gastrointestinal tract study Food and Function. 6(1), 125-134
• PAYNE G, LAD M, FOSTER TJ, KHOSLA A and GRAY DA, 2014. Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces. 116, 88-92
• GARY G. ADAMS, SHAHWAR IMRAN, SHENG WANG, ABUBAKER MOHAMMAD, M. SAMIL KOK, DAVID A. GRAY and GUY A. CHANNELL, 2014. The Hypoglycemic Effect of Pumpkin Seeds, Trigonelline (TRG), Nicotinic Acid (NA), and D-Chiroinositol (DCI) in Controlling Glycemic Levels in Diabetes Mellitus Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition. 54(10), 1322-1329
• NANTAPRAPA NANTIYAKUL, SAMUEL FURSE, IAN FISK, GREGORY TUCKER and DAVID GRAY, 2013. Journal of Cereal Science. 57(1), 141–145
• FURSE, SAMUEL, LIDDELL, SUSAN, ORTORI, CATHARINE, WILLIAMS, HUW, NEYLON, D.CAMERON, SCOTT, DAVID, BARRETT, DAVID and GRAY, DAVID, 2013. J Biological Chemistry. 6(2), 63-76
• NANTAPRAPA NANTIYAKUL, SAMUEL FURSE, IAN FISK, GREG TUCKER and DAVID GRAY, 2012. Journal of the American Oil Chemists Society.
• BINGCAN CHEN, DAVID JULIAN MCCLEMENTS, DAVID A. GRAY and ERIC A. DECKER, 2012. Food Chemsitry. 132, 1514-1520
• GARY G. ADAMS, SHAHWAR IMRAN, SHENG WANG, ABUBAKER MOHAMMAD, M. SAMIL KOK, DAVID A. GRAY, GUY A. CHANNELL and STEPHEN E. HARDING, 2012. Extraction, Isolation and Characterisation of Oil Bodies from Pumpkin Seeds for Therapeutic Use’ Food Chemistry Food Chemistry. 134(4), 1919-1925
• FISK, I.D. and GRAY, D.A., 2011. Journal of Food Science. 76(9), 1349-1354
• FISK, I.D., LINFORTH, R.S.T., TAYLOR, A.J. and GRAY, D.A., 2011. European Food Research and Technology: Zeitschrift für Lebensmittel- Untersuchung und -Forschung A. 232(5), 905-910
• ADAMS G.G., IMRAN S., WANG S., MOHAMMAD A., KOK S., GRAY D.A., CHANNELL G.A., MORRIS G.A. and HARDING S.E., 2011. The hypoglycaemic effect of pumpkins as anti-diabetic and functional medicines’ Food Reserch International. 44, 862-867
• GRAY, D.A., PAYNE, G., MCCLEMENTS, D.J., DECKER, E.A. and LAD, M., 2010. European Journal of Lipid Science and Technology. 112(7), 741-749
• CHEN B.C., MCCLEMENTS D.J., GRAY D.A. and DECKER E.A., 2010. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 58(16), 9259-9265
• FISK, I. D., GKATZIONIS, K., LAD, M., DODD, C.E.R. and GRAY, D.A., 2009. European Food Research and Technology. 228(4), 613-621
• WHITE, D.A., FISK, I.D., MAKKHUN, S. and GRAY, D.A., 2009. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 57(13), 5720-5726
• GRAY, D.A., BOWEN, S.E., FARHAT, I. and HILL, S.E., 2008. Food Chemistry. 106(1), 227-234
• WHITE, D.A., FISK, I.D., MITCHELL, J.R., WOLF, B., HILL, S.E. and GRAY, D.A., 2008. Food Hydrocolloids. 22(7), 1224-1232
• FISK, I.D., WHITE, D.A., LAD, M. and GRAY, D.A., 2008. Journal of Lipid Science and Technology. VOL 110(NUMB 10), 962-968
• IWANAGA, D., GRAY, D.A., DECKER, E.A. and WEISS, J. AND MCCLEMENTS, 2008. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. 56(6), 2240-2245
• D.A GRAY, I.D. FISK, D.A. WHITE, 2007. Tocochromanol Composition of Oil Bodies In: 3rd European Symposium on Plant Lipids. (In Press.)
• I.D. FISK, D.A. WHITE, D.A. GRAY, 2007. Physical Characterisation of Sunflower Oil Bodies In: 98th American Oil Chemists’ Society Annual Meeting. (In Press.)
• IWANAGA, D., GRAY, D. A., FISK, I. D., DECKER, E. A., WEISS, J. and MCCLEMENTS, D. J., 2007. JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY. VOL 55(NUMB 21), 8711-8716
• BOWEN, S.E., GRAY, D.A., GIRAND, C., MAZOOBI, M., MILLAN-TESTA, C.E., BELLO-PERÉZ, L.A. and HILL, S.E., 2006. Journal of Cereal Science. 43(3), 275-283
• WHITE, D.A., FISK, I.D. and GRAY, D.A., 2006. Journal of Cereal Science. 43(2), 244-249
• FISK, I.D., WHITE, D.A., CARVALHO, A. and GRAY, D.A., 2006. Journal of the American Oil Chemists Society. 83(2), 341-344
• GRANADO, F, OLMEDILLA, B, HERRERO, C, PEREZ-SACRISTAN, B, BLANCO, I and BLAZQUEZ, S, 2006. Experimental Biology And Medicine. 231(11), 1733-1738
• GRAY, D., 2004. Oat oil and associated minor constituents Lipid Technology. VOL 16(Part 4), 83-86
• HAMLET, C. G., SADD, P. A. and GRAY, D. A., 2004. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. VOL 52(PART 7), 2059-2066
• HAMLET, C. G., SADD, P. A. and GRAY, D. A., 2004. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. VOL 52(PART 7), 2067-2072
• FARAHNAKY, A., GRAY, D. A., MITCHELL, J. R. and HILL, S. E., 2003. Food Hydrocolloids. VOL 17(NUMBER 3), 321-326
• BUNTING, J.P. and GRAY, D.A., 2003. Journal of the American Oil Chemists Society. 80(10), 951-955
• HAMLET, C. G., SADD, P. A. and GRAY, D. A., 2003. European Food Research and Technology. VOL 216(PART 2), 122-128
• GRAY, D.A., CLARKE, M.J., BAUX, C., BUNTING, J.P. and SALTER, A.M., 2002. Journal of Cereal Science. 36(2), 209-218
• GRAY, D.A., TAYLOR, A.J., LINFORTH, R.S., BOUKOBZA, F. and ROTHE, M., 2001. Aroma generation by the lipid oxidation pathway in tomatoes: a biochemical and molecular biological study. In: Flavour 2000 191
• AVISON, S. J., GRAY, D. A., DAVIDSON, G. M. and TAYLOR, A. J., 2001. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. VOL 49(PART 1), 270-275
• GRAY, D. A., AUERBACH, R. H., HILL, S., WANG, R., CAMPBELL, G. M., WEBB, C. and SOUTH, J. R., 2000. Journal of Cereal Science. VOL 32(PART 1), 89-98
• TAYLOR, A.J., LINFORTH, R.S., BAEK, I., BRAUSS, M.S., DAVIDSON, J.M. and GRAY, D.A., 2000. Flavor release and flavor perception. In: Flavor chemistry: Industrial and academic research American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, USA. 151-165
• HILL, S. E. and GRAY, D. A., 1999. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture. VOL 79(NUMBER 3), 471-475
• GRAY, D. A., PRESTAGE, S., LINFORTH, R. S. T. and TAYLOR, A. J., 1999. Food Chemistry. VOL 64(NUMBER 2), 149-155
• AUERBACH, R. H. and GRAY, D. A., 1999. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture. VOL 79(NUMBER 3), 385-389
• HAU, M. Y. M., GRAY, D. A. and TAYLOR, A. J., 1998. Flavour and Fragrance Journal. VOL 13(NUMBER 2), 77-84
• HAU, M.Y., GRAY, D.A. and TAYLOR, A.J., 1996. Binding of Volatiles to Starch. In: Flavor-Food Interactions 633. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, USA. 109-117
• GRAY, D. A. and KEKWICK, R. G. O., 1996. Plant Science. VOL 119(NUMBER 1/2), 11-21
• GRAY, D. A. and KEKWICK, R. G. O., 1996. Plant Science. VOL 115(NUMBER 1), 39-47