Milking the science of dairying

Your research is on milk and dairy processing, did you grow up in a farming environment?

Not at all. I grew up in Glasnevin on the northside of Dublin. I basically didn't see a cow until I went to UCC to do my PhD in dairy science.

So what led you into this line of work?

Growing up, all I can ever remember wanting to be was a scientist. I did my undergraduate degree in biotechnology at the National Institute of Higher Education in Glasnevin – and I was there when it became Dublin City University.

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Then I worked in the food industry, but I realised it wasn’t for me. The science of food fascinated me, though, so I did a PhD in UCC, which turned into a lectureship and, decades later, I am still here.

Why does the science of food – and dairy in particular – fascinate you?

Milk is nutritious, but that means it is also a rich meal for microbes such as bacteria. So in dairy we use processes like salt, heat and dehydration to preserve, to add textures and flavours and transform milk into other products. Humans have been processing dairy for thousands of years – think about bog butter in Ireland and yogurt in Greece and Egypt.

The science I am interested in is about proteins and enzymes and cells, and these all matter in the hugely complex system that is dairy. I look at what happens to those biological building blocks when we process milk, and how we can use that. There is such variety in dairy research, and there are always surprises.

What would you like people to know about food processing?

We process food in many ways to make it safer for consumption and to make it more palatable – like pasteurising milk or cooking meat. So rather than talking about processed food always being bad for health, I think we should focus on how safe, nutritious or otherwise a food is.

Tell us about some of the projects you have worked on recently?

One is looking at how to create a printer that can 3D-print cheese. There’s a lot of science and engineering in that, and it is great fun. In a completely different project, we are looking at human milk.

We know a huge amount about the proteins and building blocks of cow’s milk, but very little about those structures and how they assemble in human milk, and how human milk can affect gut microbes. It’s humbling when the new students in the lab are brought in to see the premature babies in hospital, and they see who directly benefits from this kind of research.

You are active on Twitter and you have written books – how important is communication?

I believe in the premise that research is not complete until it is communicated. I have written a book called Molecules, Microbes and Meals, one called How Scientists Communicate, and more recently with Dr Róisín Burke, Dr Christophe Lavelle and Dr Hervé This vo Kientza. This, a huge reference book on molecular gastronomy.

I joined Twitter to talk about the books, and found I enjoy it as a place to chat to others and to hear what people think about topics.

And finally do you ever truly switch off from work?

Science is not really a nine-to-five endeavour, and I find my mind can be churning questions and ideas at any time.

But I love reading, music, pop culture and podcasts. And with three kids and three dogs, we have a busy family life too. It’s all about getting a good balance.