Our collaborative ISAPP group found that foods with higher microbial concentrations are associated with modest health improvements across a range of outcomes.
This published in Applied Environmental Microbiology shows how intraspecies interactions in food fermentations are dependent on metal cation availabilty.
Glory Bui (PhD student MGG) received the honor of a coveted poster award at the annual International Scientific Association of Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) meeting in Sitges, Spain. The award was given to two students by the Student Fellows Association (SFA). Congratulations to Glory on her excellent research and presentation on diffusible factors made by L. casei in milk which improve intestinal epithelial barrier function.
We are excited to share the news that we are launching a new project to reduce antibiotic use and risk of antimicrobial resistance in pig production. This $21.2 million, 5-year PIG-PARADIGM project is funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Our lab is teaming up with other researchers at UC Davis and at universities in Denmark and the Netherlands. We will be studying how to prevent the need for antibiotics during pig weaning by improving digestive tract resilience through the gut microbiome.
We are excited to share the news that Ruchita Uttarwar completed her MS research and graduated this June. Her thesis is titled "Effect of amoxicillin clavulanate on the intestinal microbiota and metabolomes of mice administered yogurt and Bifidobacterium animalis subsp.lactisBB-12". We are thrilled for her upcoming manuscript and bright future ahead.
Congratulations to Dr. Eric Stevens on the completion of his dissertation research. Eric's studies have shed new light on extracellular electron transfer metabolism performed by lactic acid bacteria in food fermentations.
Eric Stevens' dissertation research has led to exciting new findings on the metabolism of lactic acid bacteria. Through his research and together with our collaborators at Rice University, we discovered how L. plantarum uses extracellular electron transfer to improve growth and acidify its environment.
Congratulations to Zach Bendiks on his Journal of Functional Foods paper investigating how the gut microbiome changes in response to different dietary fibers. Resistant starch is highly selective and increases expression of stress-response genes corresponding with reductions in intestinal pH.
Our perspective article on Inuit fermented foods is published in the new journal Microbiome Research Reports. This article provides guidance on how to approach microbiological research questions on Inuit fermented foods so that it centers Inuit knowledge within the specific geographic, social, and cultural contexts in which these foods are made.
We are excited to be embarking on a new project funded by the California Dairy Research Foundation and the National Dairy Council to compare yogurt and plant-based yogurt products for their digestibilty and delivery of probiotic bacteria to the digestive tract. This project is being conducted together with Professor Gail Bornhorst (FST and BAE, UC Davis). We hope to begin to understand the similarities and differences in how the nutrients and microbes in these foods are made bio-available during digestion in the stomach and small intestine.
Congratulations to Zach Bendiks for receiving the UC Davis 2021 Kinsella Memorial Prize. This award, established in honor of late Dean and Professor John E. Kinsella, is awarded to the best dissertation based on the quality and originality of the work, the multidisciplinary impact of the research, and the importance of the research to the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CA&ES) mission to serve agriculture, the environment, and human health and development.
We are excited about our new publication on the diversity of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum isolated from plants and plant foods. This paper gives insight into the ecological strategies of L. plantarum and how it as adapted to different plant types and fermented foods and was made possible by funding from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1751-7915.13871
Check out our new publication on the microbiota in Cheddar cheese and research which led us to identify the microorganisms responsible for slit defects. This work was made possible by the California Dairy Research Foundation. 10.1128/mSystems.01114-20
