The March meeting comes from the Brisbane branch, on Sunday 7 March, at 1 pm, Brisbane time. Professor Mary Fletcher will be presenting a talk titled “Trehalulose, a sweet but healthy sugar in stingless bee honey”.
All are welcome to attend in person, $5 fee for non-members. We will attend to some branch business following the talk.
ANBA members will be sent a link to attend by Zoom.
Title. Trehalulose, a sweet but healthy sugar in stingless bee honey
Biography. Professor Mary Fletcher is an applied organic chemist with a passion for the application of chemistry in the agricultural space. She graduated from the University of Queensland with BSc (Hons I) and then a PhD in Chemistry. Her early career focused on insect pheromone research firstly at UQ and subsequently with Queensland Department of Primary Industries (QDPI). Mary has since developed a specialist knowledge of the toxins in poisonous plants and fungi and their impacts on livestock and human health, food safety and even their presence in honey. In 2010 Mary returned to UQ with the formation of Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) where she has continued to apply her analytical chemistry skills to address issues in animal production. Her current research interest lies in the identification and analysis of the unusual sugars present in stingless bee honey, and elucidating the origin of these low GI sugars.