 Good, somebody in the back knows what they're doing. All right, so it's my pleasure to introduce our next speaker, Dr. Keita Okuda. Dr. Okuda joined Amano Enzyme in 2008. He has a PhD degree in molecular biology from Nagoya University. He has been engaged in the development of industrial enzymes. He has interest in advanced technologies to create innovative enzymes for sustainable industry. He believes that the development of innovative enzymes will contribute to circular economy. Among his research interests are industrial enzyme application, molecular biology of enzyme engineering, and introduction of advanced technologies into enzyme design. Thank you very much, Pam. Kind of introduction. And I'm honored to be the speaker today. As Mr. Amano mentioned in the beginning, it is Memorial Day for Amano to sponsor host their first North America Japan Enzyme technology symposium. Then I'm going to talk about enzyme application for plant-based food. Then before we get started, I would like to introduce about Amano Enzyme. We actually have long history. We originally founded it more than 120 years ago. Then we've been focusing on the enzyme business over 70 years now, which is long. Then this is the picture, the R&D center in Japan. Very clean, green, and quiet. Very nice to work. And this here, this shows our global network, Amano Group. In the U.S., we based in the Chicago area, the west suburb. I actually was working here for five years. Then there we have the branding facility, where all the enzymes shipped from Japan. Then we branded here, then distributed to the customer in North America and South America. Then in terms of manufacturing, production mostly happens in Japan and China. Then we also have office in Thailand and the U.K. I mean, that's how we interact with customers over in the world. And as an enzyme company, we believe enzymes have millions of possibilities. So we produce the enzymes from the microorganisms. Then on the left, if necessary, we go to Tropical Forest to collect the soil sample. With that, right now our microorganism library, the strain is over 16,000, which is a lot. And finally, this is the last slide about Amano enzyme. Our company slogan is, change the future with enzymes that surprises the world. We have three synergies. The first is about business, where we have customers in the medical area as well as the food area. So that helps us understand the market widely and globally. The second is about the production system. So we produce enzymes with the koji, the solid fermentation and liquid fermentation. Then this allows us to have the variety of unique enzymes. Then finally, the other one is the biotechnology. So we keep developing the modern and classical biotechnology. So then with these three synergies, so we can make this happen. So then today I will introduce the three enzymes and their applications. The first enzyme I'd like to introduce is the protein glutaminase 500, the PG 500 for improving the plant protein functionalities. The PG is an enzyme that catalyzed glutamin residue in protein to the glutamate. I mean, here what I'd like to emphasize is the PG 500 does not leave the protein, the chain. It's just changed the charge of the protein. So with that reaction, the protein conformation changes. The more water molecule has access to the protein, which contributes to improving the solubility and emulsifying property. Again, the PG 500 delivers multiple benefits to the daily alternative application. For example, improve the protein solubility, multiple, and handling. So let's take a look for each. Regarding solubility, here we tested out four different protein sources, like pea protein, chickpea, soy, and rice protein. Then what we did is the 10% solution was prepared and incubated with PG 500 with this condition. After the incubation, we just corrected the solubility reaction to measure the absorbance at 280, which indicates the protein content in the solution. Then on the right, as you can see, the PG treated sample, which is the green bar. So all of the protein sources increased solubility by 15% to 50%. So this means you can put more solubility protein in your finished product. Then about second thing, the mouth peel. In order to evaluate the mouth peel, we conducted the tribology test with the support of NISO, who is a food research company in Netherlands. The tribology is a technique that explains the oral food structure and the mouth peel by measuring the lubrication properties. The coefficient of friction was measured at different speeds. Then here, the lower the value means the smoother the mouth peel. Then PG treated soy milk showed the lower coefficient of friction. Then in the meantime, our sensory test also confirmed the smoother mouth peel in the PG treated soy milk. So the tribology explained the mouth peel of the plant-based milk. Then this is the last slide about the PG 500. As I mentioned earlier, the PG has just changed the charge of the protein. Then in terms of the isoelectric point, with PG treatment, the isoelectric point is slightly shifted to acidic pH. So then like this, one of the advantages for this change is the prevent cardling. I think some of you may have seen the plant-based milk like almond and auto milk start the cardling when mixed with coffee. One of the reasons is pH. Usually, the typical isoelectric point of plant protein is 5 to 6, and coffee is pH 5.5. So once you get the pH on this range, the cardling starts. However, with PG 500 treatment, you won't see this. So let me play the video. Yes, on the left is no PG treatment. Then right side is PG treated. You see the control sample immediately start the cardling. On the other hand, the PG 500 stayed homogeneous. That's all for the PG 500. Today, I only introduced a three-point, but the PG 500 has more, delivers more advantages. So I hope you test PG 500 on your hands. So then the second topic I'm going to talk about is masking beanie flavor with cyclo-dexy-stream gluconotransferase, CGT. The pea protein and soy protein are the great ingredients, having the nice characteristics for the plant-based meat application. However, the one with the downside is beanie flavor. So far, 20 to 30 compounds are identified having the beanie flavor. For example, the n-hexano and one octan-3 and benzaldehyde. So people try to reduce the beanie flavor from a mono. So our idea is to trap the beanie flavor with the cyclo-dexy-stream. Cyclo-dexy-stream is a cyclic oligosaccharide with six to eight glucose molecules. And it's very popular compound as a masking agent. Then we thought the beanie flavor compound might be trapped with the cyclo-dexy-stream because the inside of the cyclo-dexy-stream is the hydrophobic and mostly the beanie flavor compound also the hydrophobic. Then to check the proof of concept, we just added alpha and beta cyclo-dexy-stream to the plant-based party-making process. So then volatile compounds were measured, analyzed with the GC-MS. On the left, the green is alpha-CD treated sample. The beta is the light blue one. Then as you can see, the alpha-CD is very effective to reduce the hexano, heptano. So this type of long-chain compounds. Then on the other hand, beta-CD is very effective for the benzaldehyde. So this type of the more bulky compounds. From us, these findings make sense because when you look at the size inside the alpha-CD and the long-chain aldehyde, it's about the same. Same thing with the beta-CD and the aromatic ring right here. So proof of concept is checked for the next step to be label-friendly. We think it is possible to produce the cyclo-dexy-stream from the starch because if the enzyme is not active in the finished product, it is considered processing aid and you don't need to label it. Then from our product list, we confirmed our CGT, the product name is Conchline. It's produced a good amount of cyclo-dexy-stream from the starch. With this result, we just incorporate the enzymatic process to the party-making process where the starch and CGT enzymes are added to the formulation. Then making the parties. The same thing, the volatile compound analyzed with the GCMS. On the left, you can see that most of the volatile compounds are reduced with the CGT treatment about half. On the right, we just picked up the two compounds, the Hexanard and Benz aldehyde, showing the smaller lower peak with the CGT treatment. Then just in case, we did the sensory test to see if there is any difference in the flavor. Our sensory panelist clearly shows the significant reduction in beanie flavor. We successfully developed a clean label of clay by masking the system with the enzymatic process. This is the last topic about the salt reduction. The salt reduction is a general concern. The WHO, back in 2020, they agreed to reduce the sodium intake by 30% by 2025. They recommend two grams of sodium intake per day. However, right now, the average is estimated at 4.3 grams, which is way too high. If the target is achieved, 7 million lives will be saved according to them. Then, however, this year, 2023, the last March, they reported that we are really behind the target. As an enzyme company, we think enzyme can help reduce the sodium intake by increasing the savory flavor, umami flavor. The enzyme I'd like to introduce here is the Mamizyme Pulse M.A. This is a branded enzyme containing two different types of the proteins and glutaminase. With Mamizyme treatment, the proteins initially break down, partially break down with the end proteins. Then, amino acid and a small peptide are produced with the extra proteins. Finally, the glutaminase is converted to the glutaminase to increase the umami flavor, savory flavor. What we did is just to get the vegetable broth from the market, then treat it with the Mamizyme enzyme. After that, adding the sodium, just adjusting the same level of the salt level, 0.5%. Then did the sensory test. Then our trained panelists detected the significant increase in umami, kokumi, and solitiness. After this, we just in case checked the sodium level in the sample to see if the enzyme treatment increased the sodium. It came out the sodium level is the same, no enzyme treatment and the Mamizyme treatment is the same. Meanwhile, the glutamate is increased with the Mamizyme treatment, which makes sense. Therefore, the next step, so we try to understand how much salt reduction can be achieved with the Mamizyme treatment. Here, we prepared five different samples. On the left, this is the 0.5% of salt, but no enzyme. This is saltiness rating. Here is the one. So this is a reference sample. Then our sensory panelists rated these treated samples compared to the reference samples. When you look at the 0.5% of the salt with treatment, they rated at around 1.25%. This means the 25% of the solitiness is enhanced with the Mamizyme treatment. Then if you look at the 0.4% of the salt, they rated this sample around one. This means technically, it is possible to contribute the salt reduction by 20%. I hope it's going to be a big plus for the human health. I think that's all from my side and thanks for the attention. Thank you. You were speaking about cycle dextrin and reduction of beanie flavor and treatment with CGT. You showed some figures that the beanie value reduced and savory went up. Is this because of the actual savory note creation or the relative values are changing? I think it's just to mask the beanie flavor. Then the sensory panelists can detect the more Mami flavor. This time, enzyme treatment does not produce any Mami flavor. Just to reduce the supply of the beanness. Thank you, Dr. Okuda, for your presentation today. It's my pleasure to introduce our next speaker.