Don Otter

After studying the recycling of cellulase enzymes for his PhD in Chemical Engineering at Auckland University, Don Otter joined the Biochemical Processing Centre of DSIR in Palmerston North and worked on the large-scale extraction of value-added components from kiwifruit, animal and microbial sources.

After getting married he then continued to work in milk research for 17 years. This work included trying to understand bovine immunoglobulins, carving out products and a market for colostrum, coming to grips with the minutiae of protein hydrolysates and attempting to correlate functional characteristics of milk products back to their protein/sugar/mineral make-up.

Whilst pottering in these areas skills in HPLC, ELISA, MS, PAGE and other numerous letters have been acquired. Don is now applying some of these to understanding the metabolomics involved with rumen, food and animal systems.