Zhang Receives Grants to Study Foodborne Pathogens
Wei Zhang, assistant professor of biology at IIT's National Center for Food Safety and Technology, received two U.S. Department of Agriculture awards for projects involving foodborne pathogens.
Zhang received $750,000 from USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service to continue the proficiency testing program at NCFST through September 2011. In this program, NCFST prepares food pathogen samples and ships them to more than 150 labs nationwide, where public health investigators use them to practice techniques for screening food. They also develop proficiency tests for mobile civil support teams that will be deployed in case of food safety and security emergencies.
Zhang also received $359,000 from USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture for the project "Salmonella thermal resistance during desiccation and rehydration in low-water activity foods" through January 2013. Salmonella can now survive chewing in foods with low-water activity like peanut butter; Salmonella contamination in peanut butter in 2008 caused 600 cases of infections and even deaths. With this grant, Zhang will explore the survival strategies and underlying molecular mechanisms of Salmonella thermal resistance in foods like peanut butter to develop effective control and intervention to reduce the risk of Salmonella contamination.
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