Aim 3 - Develop a undergraduate summer research program in food safety

The application deadline for the Cornell Food Science Summer Scholars Program in 2014 has passed.  However, undergraduate students interested in conducting summer research in food safety beyond 2014 should check the Cornell Food Science Summer Scholars Program webpage for details on how to apply in the future or should contact Janette Robbins jmr65@cornell.edu or Dr. Martin Wiedmann mw16@cornell.edu for further information.  Details on the summer scholar program can also be found on The Foundation of the Institute for Food Technologists website.

At North Carolina A&T SU, our food microbiology and safety laboratory is currently (spring 2014) hosting two undergraduate research assistants who are conducting research related to lactic acid fermentation and food safety. The students are:  Carlos Carter and Ariostotle Nelson.  Ariostotle is working on the use of natural ingredients to inhibit foodborne pathogens.  Carlos is currently working on factors influencing acid whey production in Greek yogurt.  Carlos has been admitted to the Food Science graduate program at Purdue University.  His graduate degree will focus on food safety.

Students with specific interests in food safety participated in the 2014 Cornell Summer Undergraduate Research Program, including undergraduate students from Mount Holyoke College, Ithaca College, American University, Bryn Mawr College, Monmouth College, University of Hawaii, Alabama A&M University, North Carolina State University, Iowa State University, University of Michigan, and Georgia Institute of Technology.

Naa Ankrah, a chemistry major from Mount Holyoke College, is conducting research in Dr. Tako's lab at Cornell University. She is working on improving zinc and iron bioavailability in staple foods and developing countries.

Avery Becker, a biochemistry major from Ithaca College, is conducting research in Dr. Wiedmann's lab at Cornell University. His research assesses envelop stress responses by Listeria monocytogenes as regulated from its sigma factors.

Madeleine Bee, a chemistry major from American University, is conducting research with Dr. Sacks and Ms. Howe at Cornell University.  She is determining volatile acidity in wines by measuring acetic acid using gas detection tubes.

Jie Cheng, a chemistry major from Bryn Mawr College, is conducting research in Dr. Wiedmann's laboratory and the Milk Quality Improvement Program at Cornell University.  She is working on the development of a new assay to detect cold growing Bacillus and Paenibacillus spp.

Maxwell Holle, a biochemistry major from Monmouth College, is conducting research in Dr. Padilla-Zakour's laboratory at Cornell University.  He is working on the Evaluation of Absorption Coefficients as a Means for Determining the Efficacy of UV Light for Bacterial Inhibition in Juice.

Emily Mishina, a microbiology major from the University of Hawaii, is conducting research in Dr. Worobo's laboratory at Cornell University.  She is Characterizing the Antifungal Effects of YvgO on Candida albicans.

Anissa Taylor, a food science major from Alabama A&M University, is conducting research in Dr. Moraru's laboratory at Cornell University.  She is studying the Effect of the Vital Vio light system on inactivation of foodborne microorganisms and food spoilage.

Currey Nobles, a food science major from North Carolina State University, is conducting research in Dr. Nightingale's laboratory at Texas Tech.  She is working on validation studies for the companies Qiagen and Roka. Both of the validation studies are concerned with detection of food pathogens in different food matrices. The Qiagen study is focused on E. coli detection in ground beef, beef trim and sprouts. The Roka study is focused on Listeria detection in hot dogs and deli meats.

Erina Gunawan, a food science major from Iowa State University, is conducting research in Dr. Oliver's lab at Purdue University.  Her research focuses on identifying the presence of Listeria monocytogenes in cantaloupe seeds.

Rachel Lombardi, a biochemistry major from the University of Michigan, is conducting her research at North Carolina State University.

Brittany Miles, a biology major from Georgia Institute of Technology, is conducting her research at North Carolina State University.

Katherine Speight, a food science major from North Carolina State University, is conducting her research at North Carolina State University.

Britteny Junious, an undergraduate researcher at North Carolina A&T State University, studied the antimicrobial activity of grape seed extract against foodborne pathogens during. Her research was conducted in Dr. Salam Ibrahim's lab during the spring 2014 semester. 

She is planning to continue her research during this summer 2014 and attend IFT conference.

Cornell hosted 7 students from SUNY Cobleskill Medical Careers Club for 1.5 hours on November 8 and introduced them to careers in food safety.

Dr. Salam Ibraham and his undergraduate researcher, Alani Adkins, were recently featured in North Carolina A&T State University's Re:search magazine.  The article highlights the university's Undergraduate Research Scholars Program and Alani's interests in food safety. The article can be viewed here.

Students with specific interests in food safety participated in the 2013 Cornell Summer Undergraduate Research Program, including undergraduate students from Texas Tech University, North Carolina State University, Texas Wesleyan University, McGill University, Cornell University, University of Puerto Rico--Mayaguez, and Pennsylvania State University. 

Jessica Heiden, a senior Biology major from Texas Tech University, will be conducting research in Dr. Nightingale's lab at the International Center for Food Industry Excellence at Texas Tech University.  Her research focuses on characterizing the immune response to virulence-attenuated Listeria monocytogenes subtypes which are common among ready-to-eat foods.

Analiesel Hannes, a rising senior and double major in food science and microbiology at North Carolina State University, is performing summer research in Dr. Jaykus' lab at North Carolina State University.  Her research utilizes RTq-PCR and cell culture techniques to investigate the persistence of a possible Norovirus surrogate, Tulane Virus, on stainless steel.

Corey Holt, a rising junior majoring in Biology at Texas Wesleyan University, is using Western blotting to examine the expression of genes used for  flagellar motility in Listeria monocytogenes.  He is working under the mentorship of Dr. Angela Roberts at Texas Wesleyan University.

Morgan Kirkpatrick, a rising junior majoring in Biology at Texas Wesleyan University, is examining the prevalence of Listeria monocytogenes and Listeria species isolated from queso fresco purchased from small and large Hispanic-serving retail stores.  He is working under the mentorship of Dr. Angela Roberts at Texas Wesleyan University.

Sarah Kozak, a Food Science major at Cornell University, conducted research in Dr. Martin Wiedmann's laboratory. Her research focused on characterization of organisms isolated from fluid milk and cultured dairy products.

Paola M. Illas-Ortiz, an Industrial Microbiology major from the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, conducted research in Dr. Martin Wiedmann's laboratory at Cornell University. Her research focused on the prevalence, persistence, and diversity of Listeria in spinach fields from planting to harvest.

Karine Paradis, a Food and Nutritional Science major from McGill University, conducted research in Dr. Carmen I. Moraru's at Cornell University. Her research focused on reduction of Listeria innocua on the surface of processed cheese after exposure to Pulsed Light Treatment.

Kenneth G. Vogel, a Food Science major from Pennsylvania State University, conducted research in Dr. Randy Worobo's laboratory. His research focused on Dertermining critical parameters for tempeh production to control the growth of foodborne pathogens.

Six undergraduate students with specific interests in food safety participated in the 2012 Cornell Summer Undergraduate Research Program, including one undergraduate student each from Michigan State University, The University of Arlington Texas, Jackson State University, Eastfield College, Alabama A&M University, and Truman State University.

Laura Carroll, an undergraduate majoring in Genomics and Molecular Genetics at Michigan State University, was a summer scholar in the Wiedmann lab at Cornell. Her research focused on expanding the path-dependent bacterial inactivation model for Salmonella in ground turkey described in Stasiewicz et al., 2007, by determining a function for τ that accurately describes cellular adaptation to stress from a physiological perspective.

Ola Esho, an undergraduate majoring in Biology at The University of Arlington Texas, was a summer scholar in the Nightingale lab at Texas Tech. Her research focused on characterizing 276 isolates of lymph nodes contribution from TX and NE to find an enhancin gene that is believed to help Salmonella attach to the midgut of insects.

Ana Brown, an undergraduate majoring in Biology at Jackson State University, was a summer scholar in the Wiedmann lab at Cornell. Her research focused on 1) using MLST (Multi-locus Sequence Typing) in order to genetically classify various isolates of L. mono and 2) the use of Nisin to inhibit the growth of L. mono bacteria on seafood at cold temperatures.

Laura Hill, an undergraduate majoring in Biology at Eastfield College, was a summer scholar in the Oliver lab at Purdue. Her research focused on Listeria monocytogenes adaptation to increasing concentrations of quaternary ammonium compounds when the concentration of disinfectant is below the value needed to kill it.

Breanna McArthur, an undergraduate majoring in Food Science at Alabama A&M University, was a summer scholar in the Worobo lab at Cornell.  Her research focused on the mode of action, heat stability, and pH stability of the bacteriocin Thurincin H.

Rachel Scott, an undergraduate majoring in Chemistry at Truman State University, was a summer scholar in the Moraru lab at Cornell.  Her research focused on understanding the extent to which the addition of κ-carrageenan to micellar casein concentrate stabilizes the mixture during heat treatment at sterilization temperature in a range of pH levels.

The food microbiology and safety laboratory at North Carolina A&T State University conducted a food safety and protection seminar on Wednesday April 11, 2012 in Carver Hall. This was part of the food safety activates.  The audience included undergraduate and graduate students in the School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at North Carolina A&T State University.

The following gave presentations:

Rabin Gyawali:  Food Components

Mehrdad Tajkarimi:  New courses in food defense and safety

Saeed Hayek:  Introduction to Food Safety

Larriale Spruill: Basic understanding of food defense and protection

Marcella Cheek: Food Defense for Agricultural Commodities applying the CARVER + Shock Method

Five undergraduate students with specific interests in food safety participated in the 2011 Cornell Summer Undergraduate Research Program, including one undergraduate student each from North Carolina A&T State University, Purdue University, UC Berkely, MIT, and Cornell.

Michelle Adams, an undergraduate majoring in Biology at Cornell University, was a summer scholar in the Worobo lab at Cornell.  Her research focused on bacteriocin resistance in Enterococcus mundtii.  E. mundtii produces bacteriocins that have the potential to significantly reduce the presence of pathogens, such as Listeria monocytogenes, in ready-to-eat foods.

Jean Fang, an undergraduate majoring in Chemical-Biological Engineering at MIT, was a summer scholar in the Moraru lab at Cornell. Her research focused on the effects of nanoscale surface topography on the attachment behavior of Listeria innocua to alumina and silica substrates.

Fritz Foo, an undergraduate majoring in Molecular Environmental Biology at UC Berkley, was a summer scholar in the Wiedmann lab at Cornell. His research focused on molecular and phenotypic characterization of Salmonella Enteritidis isolates obtained from human disesae outbreaks and cases, with a focus on comparing growth trends and PFGE profiles.

Brittany Miller, an undergraduate majoring in Food Science at Cornell, was a summer scholar in the Moraru lab at Cornell. Her research focused on inactivation of E. coli in milk and concentrated milk using Pulsed light treatment.  Brittany published her research in the Journal of Dairy Science in 2012!  Miller B.M., Sauer A., Moraru C.I. Inactivation of Escherichia coli in milk and concentrated milk using pulsed-light treatment. J Dairy Sci. 2012; 95(10):5597-603.

Carmen Wickware, an undergraduate majoring in Food Science at Purdue University, was a summer scholar in the Worobo lab at Cornell. Her research focused on characterization of Alicylobacillus isolates and their behavior in juice and other beverages.

Jessica Wooten, an undergraduate majoring in Food and Nutritional Sciences at NC A&T State University, was a summer scholar in the Wiedmann lab at Cornell. Her research focused on phylogenetic analysis of shiga-toxin producing E. coli isolates from beef cattle farms and natural environments.  Shiga Toxin-Producing E. coli are bacterial pathogens that result in both outbreak and sporadic occurrences of human mortality and disease.  Shiga Toxin-Producing E. coli can cause hemorrhagic colitis and the life threatening hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) in humans.  E. coli 0157:H7 has been recognized as a major cause of hemorrhagic colitis and HUS but many non-O157 STEC can also cause these illnesses.  My project goals were 1) to examine STEC from beef cattle pastures and pristine environments to find differences in genes that could show how they are related; 2) to analyze soil and water from these environments to determine if they are reservoirs for E. coli; 3) to examine if genes are moving between environments.

Alani Adkins, an undergraduate majoring in Food Nutritional Sciences at NC A&T State University, was a summer scholar in the Ibrahim lab. Her research focused on the use lactic acid bacteria to control the growth of E. sakazakii and E. coli O157:H7.

Marcella Dyanne Cheek, an undergraduate majoring in Food and Nutritional Sciences at NC A&T State University, was a summer scholar in the Ibrahim lab. Her research is related to development of educational materials in the area of food defense and protection.

Three undergraduate students, majoring in Biology, participated in a pilot, five-week Food Safety Summer Scholars Program at Texas Wesleyan University during the summer of 2011.  The students worked under the mentorship of Dr. Angela Roberts.

Rebecca Mandujano, a senior Biology major, studied how effectively a recipe for homemade queso fresco kills Listeria monocytogenes during cheese preparation.

Truc Nguyen, a senior Biology major, used site-directed mutagenesis to probe the contribution of a premature stop codon in the flaR gene of Listeria monocytogenes on flagellar motility.   Truc's poster describing his research and entitled, "Rescue of the flaR gene in strain N1-003 of Listeria monocytogenes" won first place in the microbiology category at the 2012 Beta Beta Beta National Convention in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Lorena Ortiz, a senior Biology major, used cell culture to compare the intracellular growth rates of strains of Listeria monocytogenes isolated from human clinical cases of listeriosis.

Alabama A&M University hosted a food science summer program during 2011 for undergraduate students.  The program focused on all the different aspects of product development with special emphasis on food safety, development of HACCP plans, etc.  For more information contact Martha Verghese martha.verghese@aamu.edu.