WASHINGTON — Everyone knows you can’t unscramble an egg, but scientists have discovered something remarkable they can do with one.
“We have invented a way to unboil a hen egg,” says Gregory Weiss, professor of chemistry and molecular biology & biochemistry at University of California, Irvine.
When an egg is boiled, heat causes the proteins inside the egg white to tangle and clump together. By adding chemicals to a cooked egg, UC Irvine scientists have reversed the clumping process.
While most cooks leave eggs in boiling water for under 10 minutes, Weiss says his experiment transformed eggs that were boiled far longer.
“We start with egg whites boiled for 20 minutes at 90 degrees Celsius (194 degrees Fahrenheit) and return a key protein in the egg to working order,” says Weiss.
To re-create a clear protein known as lysozyme once an egg has been boiled, scientists add a urea substance that chews away at the whites, liquefying the solid material.
Even at the molecular level, protein bits are still balled up into unusable masses. Researchers then use a vortex fluid device to force the protein pieces into their original, untangled form.
Weiss’s research appears in the journal ChemBioChem. The goal of the research isn’t to restore eggs to their original form, but to demonstrate the power of the process, which could help scientists.
“The real problem is, there are lots of cases of gummy proteins that you spend way too much time scraping off your test tubes, and you want some means of recovering that material,” says Weiss.
The method of being able to quickly restore proteins could help industries ranging from pharmaceuticals to cheese makers, according to the researchers.
UCI has filed for a patent on its work.
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