Les Copeland
Professor of Agriculture
Les Copeland graduated from the University of Sydney with a BSc and PhD in Biochemistry. After postdoctoral research in the USA, at Yale University and the State University of New York, Buffalo, he took up an academic appointment in the Faculty of Agriculture in the University of Sydney, where he has been since 1974. He was Head of the Department of Agricultural Chemistry and Soil Science from 1993 to 2000, and Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources from 2001 to 2007. He was the Inaugural Resident of the Australian Council of Deans of Agriculture in 2007-08. Les was a Fulbright Fellow in the University of California in Davis, USA in 1979-80, and a Visiting Fellow in the Australian National University in 1986 and 1992. He has over 100 publications, and has been the Supervisor of 29 PhD students. He holds a Graduate Diploma of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Research and teaching of Les Copeland cover a wide range of areas in agricultural, food and environmental chemistry and biochemistry. In recent years a major focus of his research has been on the properties and functionality of starch and proteins of cereal grains and storage roots and tubers, starch-lipid complexes, age-related changes in stored grain, and cereal grain proteomics. Other major interests include enzymology, biological nitrogen fixation, environmental biochemistry and scientific communication. He has extensive experience in international projects.
- Copeland L. Grain quality and food security. Journal of Advances in Food, Hospitality and Tourism (accepted for publication)
- Copeland L, Salman H. Effect of repeated heating and cooling cycles on the pasting properties of starch. Journal of Cereal Science (accepted for publication)
- Copeland L, Blazek J, Salman H and Tang CM. 2009. Form and functionality of starch. Food Hydrocolloids 23: 1527-1534
- Blazek J, Salman H, Lopez-Rubio A, Gilbert EP, Hanley T and Copeland L. 2009. Structural parameters of wheat starch granules differing in amylose content and functional characteristics studied by small-angle x-ray scattering. Carbohydrate Polymers 75: 705-711
- Salman H, Blazek J, Lopez-Rubio A, Gilbert EP, Hanley T and Copeland L. 2009. Structure-function relationships in A and B granules from wheat starches of similar amylose content. Carbohydrate Polymers 75:420 427
Mak YM, Willows RD, Roberts TH, Wrigley CW, Sharp PS, Copeland L. 2009. Germination of wheat: a functional proteomics analysis of the embryo. Cereal Chemistry 86: 281-289 - Blazek J, Copeland L. 2009. The effect of monopalmitin on pasting properties of wheat starches with varying amylose content. Carbohydrate Polymers 78: 131-136
- Hardy K, Blakeney AB, Copeland L, Kirkham J, Wrangham RW, Collins MJ 2009. Starch granules, dental calculus and new perspectives on ancient diet. Journal of Archaeological Science 36: 248-255
- Blazek J and Copeland L 2008. Pasting and swelling properties of wheat flour and starch in relation to amylose content. Carbohydrate Polymers 71: 380-387
- Wilkes M and Copeland L 2008. Storage of wheat grains at elevated temperatures increases solubilisation of glutenin subunits. Cereal Chemistry 85: 335-338