PPIC News

Dr. Baraem Pam Ismail, Founder and Director of the Plant Protein Innovation Center and Professor of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Minnesota, was recently featured on Agricultural Utilization Research Institute (AURI)’s Ag Innovation News Podcast.

In the episode, Dr. Ismail shares how PPIC is advancing science‑based plant protein innovation through research that supports both industry needs and long‑term global food security. She highlights current work to develop high‑quality protein ingredients from Minnesota crops such as dry beans and kidney beans, and discusses how these efforts contribute to building a more resilient and sustainable food system.

The conversation also features Jason Robinson, CSM, PPIC Advisory Board member and AURI’s Director of Business Development, who shares insights on Minnesota’s growing plant protein ecosystem and the value of strong partnerships across research, industry, and economic development. Together, Dr. Ismail and Jason underscore the importance of collaboration, workforce development, and innovation in strengthening opportunities across the value chain.

We’re excited to share this new feature from MBOLD’s Protein Innovator Series, highlighting Pam Ismail, Founder and Director of the Plant Protein Innovation Center (PPIC) at the University of Minnesota.

In this short profile, Pam reflects on PPIC’s mission to unite researchers and industry partners across the value chain to accelerate innovation in plant and alternative proteins. Her leadership continues to shape a collaborative, science-driven ecosystem that advances nutritious, functional, and sustainable protein solutions.

Forever Green has just launched The Continuous Living Cover Market Builders Program, designed to facilitate innovation partnerships between industry and the University of Minnesota Forever Green Initiative. This program offers structured opportunities for companies in food, feed, renewable fuels, and cosmetics to explore new ingredients, develop market opportunities, and advance their regenerative agriculture  and climate resilience goals.

Forever Green is a platform out of the University of Minnesota stewarding the development and commercialization of 15+ continuous living cover (CLC) crops. CLC crops provide both economic and environmental benefits, building soil health, protecting water quality, and offering profitable crop diversification strategies to farmers in the Upper Midwest. Examples include Kernza®, perennial cereal rye, winter durum, winter camelina, and hybrid hazelnuts.

Early industry engagement is critical to building the supply chains and market demand needed to scale CLC crops — and companies that engage now will help shape how these markets develop.

Forever Green is hosting an introductory webinar on April 23rd at 2pm CT to share how companies can engage. This session is open to all, but specifically geared towards professionals in sustainability, R&D, procurement, brand, or supply chain development. Register here!

We are thrilled to announce a new publication emerging from a unique collaboration between the Plant Protein Innovation Center and PPIC member Microsoft: “A machine learning approach to predict functional performance from measurable protein structural characteristics: a screening tool for protein ingredient quality”.

This work, funded by Microsoft, demonstrates how data‑driven tools can strengthen ingredient evaluation by linking measurable protein structural attributes to functional performance—offering a promising approach for more efficient screening and quality assessment.

Congratulations to the authors Ronit Mandal (PPIC Postdoctoral Researcher), and Sara Malvar, Ranveer Chandra (PPIC Tech Committee member), and Baraem Pam Ismail whose collaboration and expertise helped make this work possible.

You can read the publication summary and find the link to the full article on our PPIC Research Outputs webpage.
Or read the full open access article here.

We’re proud to see this collaboration push the boundaries of what’s possible at the intersection of protein science and digital innovation. 

The Plant Protein Innovation Center (PPIC) is thrilled to welcome NETZSCH Grinding & Dispersing as our newest PLATINUM member! NETZSCH Grinding & Dispersing belongs to the NETZSCH Group, an international technology-based manufacturing company in Germany. The Group develop instruments for analysis and testing, grinding and dispersing, and pumps and systems with an ongoing commitment to utilizing sustainable production, technology and resources. We look forward to our future collaborations to identify and develop sustainable processes to produce plant protein ingredients with the Grinding & Dispersing business unit. Welcome to our membership cohort, NETZSCH!