Centers & Facilities
The Department of Human Nutrition has approximately 20,000 sq. ft. for office, instruction, and research space. Research laboratories and service areas comprise approximately 9,000 sq. ft.
- The Sensory Analysis Center is an internationally recognized consulting, educational, and research center in the field of sensory analysis. Services include product fingerprinting, quantitative descriptive analysis, product develoment testing, competetive product comparison, storage/shelf-life testing, quality control monitoring and independent verification of data.
- A 1500 sq. ft. animal laboratory is accredited by the American Association for Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC). It contains four individual animal rooms environmentally controlled and adjacent support rooms for cage washing and environmentally controlled and adjacent support rooms for cage washing and sterilization, feed preparation, and animal surgery with an exhaust fume hood. In cooperation with the College of Veterinary Medicine, animals housed and maintained in our laboratory receive veterinary care to comply with the current NIH guidelines.
- An adjacent 900 sq. ft. room is a nutritional biochemistry laboratory for research, equipped with supplies and instrumentation (Beckman ultracentrifuge, PE 5000 atomic absorption spectrometer, LKB laser densitometer, Phast gel electrophoresis, LKB column chromatography system, Fast protein liquid chromatography system, Beckman HPLC, Shimadzu 1201 spectrophotometer, and various standard lab instruments).
- A Nutritional Status Assessment laboratory is a dedicated room established for both teaching and research activities. It includes five computers and diet analysis software, anthropometric equipment for physical assessment, rapid biochemical assay systems for clinical assessment, and nutrition education materials. A DEXA machine for measurement of whole body composition and bone mineral density is also located near this room.
- Facilities specifically for sensory science are extensive and unique compared to those in other U.S. universities. Small and large descriptive sensory panels use an environmentally controlled sensory panel room. This room is equipped with one-way mirrors to allow observation of panels and focus groups from an adjoining room. Space is available to conduct large scale consumer studies that use respondents selected from military, highly educated, culturally specific, rural, youth and young adult populations.
- Preparation facilities for sensory projects include matching microwave or conventional ovens, rotary and impingment ovens, appliances for warming or toasting products, food service-style beverage preparation, and a laboratory dedicated to controlled temperature storage, dilution, and mixing flavoring materials. These facilities are used for projects involving new formulations and processes for value-added products.
- Other laboratories are used for chemical and physical analyses of biological and food materials. They are equipped with: refrigerated centrifuges: IEC Centra 7, Sorvall Superspeed RC2B; gas chromatographs: Tracor 540, Schimadzu GC-9AM; JCL-6000 Computerized Data Acquisition System; Beckman 110A-HPCL with Hatachi Model 100-10 Spectrophotometer and Altex Model C-RIA integrator; Gamma Trac 36 gamma counter; Perkin Elmer DSC-4 Differential Scanning Calorimeter with Thermal Analysis Microprocessor; spectrophotometers: three Bausch and Lomb Spectronic 20, Perkin Elmer Double Beam 124D; Turner photofluorometer; Revco Ultralow Freezer; oxygen and carbon dioxide analyzer, environment control storage cabinets, and tissue homogenizers.