Rate My Professor Purnima Gunness

Purnima Gunness is a Lecturer in Nutritional Science in the College of Environmental and Life Sciences at Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, holding the position from 11 July 2022 to 10 July 2024. She obtained her PhD from the Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences at the University of Queensland. Earlier in her career, Gunness served as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Research Associate at the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI), University of Queensland.

Gunness's research focuses on nutritional science, with particular emphasis on the mechanisms underlying the lipid-reducing properties of soluble dietary fibers. Her work investigates interactions between starch and fatty acids or alcohols, modulated by lecithin, and their impacts on starch structure, enzymatic hydrolysis, and digestibility. She has explored bile salt passage kinetics across dialysis membranes in the presence of cereal soluble dietary fibre polymers, as well as molecular interactions between β-glucan and bile salts at submicellar concentrations using glucosyl ceramide gel compact disc immunoassay. Additional studies include the reduction in circulating bile acids and cholesterol diffusion in model infant milks using barley and oat β-glucan, effects of cereal soluble dietary fibres on hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl butyrate, depletion and bridging flocculation of oil droplets by plant-gum polysaccharides, and sensory analysis of individual strawberry fruit compared to instrumental methods. Key publications encompass 'Lecithin enhances the complexation between pea starch and fatty acids in aqueous system and affects the starch's structure and enzymatic hydrolysis' (Food Chemistry, 2024), 'Effect of lecithin on the complexation between different alcohols and pea starch' (Food Chemistry, 2024), 'Reduction in circulating bile acid and restricted diffusion of cholesterol in model infant milks using barley and oat β-glucan' (FASEB Journal, 2016), 'Probing Interactions between β-Glucan and Bile Salts at Submicellar Concentration Using a Glucosyl Ceramide Gel Compact Disc Immunoassay' (Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2014), and 'Effects of cereal soluble dietary fibres on hydrolysis of p-nitrophenyl butyrate' (Food & Function, 2016). Through collaborations with researchers including Wendy Hunt, Vicky A. Solah, Michael J. Gidley, and Qingjie Sun, she contributes to advancements in food chemistry and human nutrition.