Cereal Grains: Assessing and Managing Quality

Colin Wrigley’s 45 years in cereal chemistry research have earned him international recognition, in the form of several international and Australian research awards. His work is described in over 500 research publications, including several patents, a series of eight books on Australian cereal varieties and many edited books.

His research interests centre on the characterisation of cereal-grain proteins in relation to processing quality. This has involved developing new methods of protein fractionation, including gel isoelectric focusing and its two-dimensional combination with gel electrophoresis. Other diagnostic methods developed relate to the evaluation of grain quality in wheat and barley, such as better methods for variety identification, and for characterising quality in starch and sprouted grain (as co-patentor of the Rapid ViscoAnalyser). Research involvement also includes elucidation of grain-quality variation due to environmental factors (heat stress, fertiliser use and storage conditions).

Currently, Dr Wrigley is an Honorary Research Fellow at Food Science Australia, in Sydney, and a Consultant to the Value-Added Wheat Cooperative Research Centre. This role includes acting as a mentor to the “next generation” of cereal chemists.