Dr. Robert G. Ackman

Contacts

E-mail: Robert.Ackman@dal.ca
Tel: 902 494 6030; Fax: 902 420 0219
Mailing address:
Canadian Institute of Fisheries Technology
Dalhousie University
P.O. Box 1000; Halifax, NS B3J 2X4 Canada
Location:
Sexton Campus; 1360 Barrington Street
MacDonald Building, Room D401

 

Education

B.A. University of Toronto (Org. Chem.)
M.Sc. Dalhousie University (Org. Chem.)
Ph.D. University of London (Org. Chem)
D.I.C. Imperial College of Science and Technology (Org. Chem.)
LL.D. (Hon.) Dalhousie University

Research Keywords

Gas-liquid chromatography
Marine oils and lipids
Ocean production processes
Omega-3 fatty acids
Petroleum tainting
Fish and shellfish nutrition

Research Interests

Dr. Ackman began his career in marine oils research in 1950 at the world-famous Halifax Laboratory of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada. In 1979 he helped establish the CIFT and later the Department of Food Science and Technology at TUNS (since April 1997 a part of Dalhousie University). Professor Ackman is best known for his pioneering work on lipid analytical chemistry, particularly in the capillary gas liquid chromatography (GLC) of fatty acids and the chemistry and biochemistry of marine lipids. Dr. Ackman has developed a number of techniques and procedures in the analysis of marine oils especially the omega-3 fatty acids of fish oils, methods that are now used worldwide to analyze complex fatty acid mixtures from marine organisms. In recognition of these achievements, he was awarded the H.P. Kaufmann Memorial Lecture Medal given by the International Society for Fat Research in 1980 and the Supelco-American Oil Chemists' Society Award in 1994.

Fish oils are a major component in the diets of farmed salmon and Dr. Ackman has received NSERC support for investigations of fish meal and silage lipids, antioxidants and pigments, and other nutrition matters, often collaborating with local researchers of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Through Dalhousie University and the National Research Council of Canada his activities on lipids of seaweeds and their small relatives, microalgae, have contributed to our understanding of basic productivity of the oceans and to applied nutrition of scallops, mussels, oysters and other molluscs. Dr. Ackman maintains links with the Biology and Oceanography Departments of Dalhousie University.

Dr. Ackman has explored the presence of objectionable sensory attributes in farmed salmon and other seafood after oil spills. The water-soluble fraction of crude petroleum is retained in the lipids of marine organisms after exposure. His laboratory has developed improved methods for recovery of petroleum hydrocarbons from fish muscle tissue, examined the rate of depuration of petroleum hydrocarbons from tissues of marine species, looked at the role of lipid storage sites in fish muscle in retaining hydrocarbons and observed the presence of biogenic and petrogenic hydrocarbons in a wide range of marine animal tissues.

Dr. Ackman pioneered the correlation of data on the lipid composition and the fatty acid profiles of a large number of marine animals and plants of both food and industrial interest and has been actively involved with the promotion of canola oil through studies on its composition. He has edited the definitive book on "Marine Biogenic Lipids" for the CRC Press, and is the author of over 550 scientific papers. Professor Ackman serves on both the Expert Committee on Fats and Other Lipids and the Expert Committee on Plant Products. Dr. Ackman has served on the Board of Governors of the American Oil Chemists' Society, and is the Official Referee for fish oils of the Association of Official Analytical Chemists. He has fostered the parallel developments of marine food sources of omega-3 fatty acids and of fish oil concentrates in capsule form for clinical applications. His techniques for food and product analysis for these fatty acids have been adopted by the AOCS and by the AOAC as "Official Methods".

Recent Selected Publications

Murphy, M.G., V. Wright, J. Scott, A. Timmins and R.G. Ackman. 1999. Dietary menhaden, seal and corn oils differentially affect lipid and ex vivo eicosanoid and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances generation in the guinea pig. Lipids 34:115-124.

Ackman, R.G. 1999. Docosahexaenoic acid in the infant and its mother. Lipids 34:125-128.

Allen, C.A.W., K.C. Watts and R.G. Ackman. 1999. Predicting the surface tension of biodiesel fuels from their fatty acid composition. J. Amer. Oil Chem. Soc., Vol. 76, no. 3, pp 317-323.

Allen, C.A.W., K.C. Watts, R.G. Ackman and M.J. Pegg. 1999. Predicting the viscosity of biodiesel fuels from their fatty acid ester composition. Fuel 78:1319-1326.

Ackman, R.G., T.A. Gill and X.L. Xu. 1999. The high energy diet for salmon: Effect of fat on muscle quality. in Quality Attributes of Muscle Foods, eds Y.L. Xiong, C-T. Ho and F. Shahidi. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York, pp 45-59.

Choi, B-D., S-J. Kang, Y-L. Ha and R.G. Ackman. 1999. Accumulation of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in tissues of fish fed diets containing various levels of CLA. in Quality Attributes of Muscle Foods, eds Y.L. Xiong, C-T. Ho and F. Shahidi. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York, pp 61-71.

Ackman, R.G. 1999. Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in lipids of fish tissues. In Advances in Conjugated Linoleic Acid Research, eds M.P. Yurawecz et al., AOCS Press, Champaign, IL, pp. 283-295.

Indrasena, W.M., R.G. Ackman and T.A. Gill. 1999. Separation of paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins on Chromarods-SIII by thin-layer chromatography with the Iatroscan (mark 5) and flame thermionic detection. J. Chromatography A., 855:657-668.

Ackman, R.G. 2000. Application of gas-liquid chromatography to lipid separation and analysis: Qualitative and quantitative analysis. In Fatty Acids in Food and their Health Implications, 2nd edition, ed, C.K. Chow, Marcel Dekker, New York, pp. 47-65.

Ackman, R.G. 2000. Fatty acids in fish and shellfish. In Fatty Acids in Foods and Their Health Implications, 2nd edition, ed. C.K. Chow, Marcel Dekker, New York, pp. 153-174.

Ackman, R.G. 1999. Olive Oil: From the Tree to the Table (Book Review). Food Res. Internat. 32:521-524.

Ping, H. and R.G. Ackman. 2000. HPLC determination of ethoxyquin and its major oxidation products in fresh and stored fish meals and fish feeds. J. Sci. Food Agric. 80:10-16.

Ackman, R.G. 2000. Official methods and recommendations: The need for change. INFORM 11:192-200.

Ackman, R.G. 1999. Diet, Lipoproteins and Coronary Heart Disease (Book Review). Food Res. Internat. 32: 716-718.

Timmins, A., Macpherson, E.J. and Ackman, R.G. 2000. Direct use of methyl tricosanoate as an internal standard and overcoming a potential error in the quantitation of the omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids of marine oils as ethyl esters. Food Chem. 70: 425-426.