Dr. Mathew Hoekstra, a postdoc researcher and research manager at Food Cycle Science, shares his journey from overcoming a life-altering injury to advancing science. We delve into Food Cycle Science's solutions for food waste, including Food Cyclers, and explore innovations in petroleum-based plastic alternatives and enzymatic bioplastic degradation.
Intro/outro track:
https://soundcloud.com/maxsolmusic/scapazzzz?in=maxsolmusic/sets/tto&utm_source=mobi&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Dr. Hoekstra's selected paper:
Spectrophotometric-Based Assay to Quantify Relative Enzyme-Mediated Degradation of Commercially Available Bioplastics
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/15/11/2439#

(⁠00:00⁠) Intro

⁠(01:57)⁠ Life changing injury

(0⁠5:52)⁠ Educational background

⁠(11:02⁠) Fast-tracking to a PhD

(⁠14:27)⁠ Pandemic impact on PhD progress

(⁠16:39⁠) COVID research project

⁠(18:05)⁠ Patent on peptide inhibitor

(⁠25:34⁠) How Mitacs grants work

⁠(27:13⁠) Food Cycle Science (FCS)

⁠(29:41⁠) FCS machines reduce food waste

⁠(34:08⁠) Can it kill food born pathogens?

⁠(35:39⁠) What does it produce?

⁠(37:26⁠) Community implementations

⁠(40:09⁠) The recycling problem

⁠(41:33⁠) Bioplastics, history, pros, cons

⁠(47:10⁠) Challenges of degrading bioplastics

⁠(49:56⁠) Using enzymes to catalyze the process

⁠(1:02:08)⁠ Wetlab plastic waste

⁠(1:04:13⁠) Food safety advancements

⁠(1:09:30⁠) Final thoughts

(⁠1:11:47⁠) Closing question