posted by sandra avant, agricultural research service, on may 19, 2015 at 1000 am this post is part of the science tuesday feature series on the usda blog. check back each week as we showcase stories and news from usda&rsquos rich science and research portfolio.a taste of brazilian culture is presenting a favorable research environment for usda&rsquos agricultural research service ars chemist atanu biswas, who just returned from one of three trips he will be taking to fortaleza, brazil.biswas was awarded the &ldquoscience without borders&rdquo fellowship, sponsored by the brazilian government&rsquos national council for scientific and technological development cnpq, to lead a collaborative research team investigating new food packaging based on natural biodegradable plastics. he is the first ars scientist selected to participate in the competitive program.researchers, who have made an impact in the science arena from around the world, are chosen for the award from proposals submitted to the cnpq. roselayne ferro furtado of brazilian enterprise for agricultural research embrapa authored the proposal on biswas&rsquo research. fellowship recipients are partnered with brazilian scientists&ndashcreating longlasting collaborations that benefit the agencies involved.in brazil, biswas is conducting research with program leader furtado and collaborators maria do socorro rocha bastos and selene daiha benevides on modifying polysaccharides such as starches, celluloses, cashew gum and zein proteins for use in food packaging. the team also is exploring hightech applications of biosensors for things like health and homeland security uses, encapsulation and drug delivery, and polymers for electronics.over the years, biswas has synthesized and studied many polysaccharides and proteins and their derivatives where he works in the plant polymer research unit at ars&rsquos national center for agricultural utilization research ncaur in peoria, illinois. he also has developed methods to selectively modify polysaccharides to impart special properties and to increase the value of starting materials.research in brazil involves modifying biopolymers as potential filmforming materials, improving their physical attributes, and applying these materials in food packaging, coatings, encapsulations and biosensors.&ldquothe embrapa group has made chitosan made from crustaceans and cashew nut films using the casting technique,&rdquo biswas says. &ldquohowever, the permeability and mechanical properties of the films need to be improved. i believe we will be able to achieve this goal by using the modification methodologies i developed at ncaur.&rdquo 
