Piotr Minkiewicz obtained a master’s degree in chemistry from Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń in 1986. In 1992, he obtained a doctoral degree in food technology from the Academy of Agriculture and Technology in Olsztyn. Since 2014, he has been a professor in the discipline of food technology. He was employed at the University of Agriculture and Technology in Olsztyn, and since 1999 he has been working at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn. His research interests include: the impact of modification on the physicochemical properties of milk proteins, particularly the effect of glycosylation on the functional properties of casein; analysis of proteins and peptides using high-performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry; food peptidomics; bioactive peptides; bioinformatics; computer databases; and chemical information. Professor Piotr Minkiewicz’s most notable achievement is his contribution to the creation and development of the BIOPEP-UWM database, which serves as a standard source of information on bioactive peptides in food. Prof. Piotr Minkiewicz teaches chemistry-related courses at the Faculty of Food Science of the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, within the “Food Technology and Human Nutrition” degree program and related fields of study.
Summary
Chemical and biochemical databases as sources of information for food science
Contemporary food science utilizes specialized chemical and biochemical databases as more and more important source of information. The above resources utilize their own languages: biological, designed for description of biomolecules (amino acid and nucleotide sequences or codes designed for description of lipids and sugars) as well as universal chemical codes describing compounds at atom level (SMILES – Simplified Molecular Input Line Entry System or InChI – International Chemical Identifier).
Chemical databases include: general databases of all classes of chemical compounds, databases of biologically active compounds, metabolites, food components, taste-affecting or toxic compounds and individual compound classes (peptides, lipids, sugars). Biochemical databases include nucleotide and protein sequences, protein structures (determined experimentally or computer-modeled) or categories of proteins of interest (such as enzymes or allergens and their epitopes). The above databases are accessible via the websites named metabases, such as bio.tools or MetaComBio. The first one offers links to c.a. 33,000 databases and programs.
Search options include text search, sequences of biomacromolecules or compound structures, annotated using above-mentioned chemical codes. Searches may result in finding information about single compound or group of compounds with similar structure or sequence.
Their main advantage as compared with traditional articles and books is possibility of continuous update. They may serve as source of information for specialists of food technology (general databases of compounds, sources concerning biological activity or properties of enzymes involved in food biotechnology), nutrition (information about influence of food components on human metabolism) or food safety (information concerning toxic compounds or allergens). The above-mentioned tools may be used also for education (classes in organic chemistry, food chemistry, biochemistry, and other subjects).
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by Minister of Science under “the Regional Initiative of Excellence Program”.