Faculty
Robert E. Brackett, PhD
IIT Vice President and IFSH Director
Department: Institute for Food Safety and Health (IFSH), Illinois Institute of Technology
Office: Room 231, Bldg. 90
Phone: 708.563.1577
Email: rbrackett@iit.edu
Expertise: Food Microbiology, Bacteriology, Food Safety
Education: BS in Bacteriology, MS in Food Microbiology, PhD in Food Microbiology
Research Interests: Microbiological food safety; growth and survival of psycrotropic pathogens in foods; physical and chemical controls for pathogens in foods; and microbial ecology of plant products.
Britt Burton-Freeman, PhD
Director, Center for Nutrition Research and Assistant Professor Research in Biology
Department: IFSH/IIT, Clinical Nutrition Research Center
Office: Room 339/338, Bldg. 91
Phone: 708.341.7078
Email: bburton@iit.edu
Expertise: Food Intake Regulation, Obesity, Cardiovascular Disease, Metabolic Disorders
Education: PhD, MS in Nutritional Biology, BS Dietetics and Chemistry
Research Interests: Appetite and obesity management and vascular disease. Research emphasizes the effects of bioactive food components on mechanistic and behavioral processes of food intake and body weight regulation. Primary focuses include properties of fibers, micro- and macro-molecule interactions, and food matrix effects in the gut to alter metabolic and endocrine systems. Effects of dietary constituents on vascular disease include evaluation of endothelium function, platelet activation, inflammatory and oxidative stress responses during acute and chronic interventions. The research approach includes human and basic science methodology.
Jack Cappozzo
Director of Chemistry
Department: IFSH/IIT
Office: Room 300, Bldg. 91
Phone: 708.563.8159
Email: jcappozz@iit.edu
Expertise: Food Safety, Nutrition/Health Promoting Foods, Analytical Chemistry
Education: MS in Biochemistry
Research Interests: Analytical chemistry with emphasis on separation science using high pressure liquid chromatography and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Interest has been on new methods of analysis using HPLC-MS/MS to detect ultra-low levels of B-vitamins and flavonoids. Flavonoids have been linked to antioxidant activity and health benefits in the area of cardiovascular and over-all health. Methods of analysis for flavonoids and other phenolic antioxidants by HPLC MS/MS are being developed for food matrices and clinical serum samples that support clinical trials. In addition, core work is also done in the areas of allergen cleaning and methods validation, heat toxicology detection of furan, mycotoxin determination of aflatoxin and fumonisin, packaging migration and determination of bisphenol A, acrylamide mitigation, veterinary drug residues, pesticides and chemical contaminants.
Indika Edirisinghe, PhD
Senior Scientist/Research Assistant Professor (Nutrition)
Department: IFSH/IIT, Clinical Nutrition Research Center
Office: Room 334, Bldg. 90
Phone: 708.563.8178
Fax: 708.563.1873
Email: iedirisi@iit.edu
Expertise: Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Nutrition
Education: PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Research Interests: Effect of polyphenolic compound on endothelial function, blood pressure regulation, platelet function, insulin resistance, inflammatory and oxidative stress responses during acute and chronic interventions. The research approach includes human cell culture, animal models and human clinical trials.
Stephen F. Grove, PhD
Scientist/Research Assistant Professor (Microbiology)
Department: IFSH/IIT
Office: Room 305A, Bldg. 90
Phone: 708.563.8176
Email: sgrove@iit.edu
Expertise: Microbiology; Human Enteric Viruses; Food Safety
Education: PhD in Agricultural Science, B.App.Sci. & B.App.Sci. (hons.) in Applied Biology/Biotechnology
Research Interests: Fresh and fresh-cut produce safety, cross-contamination of enteric viruses during fresh produce washing and food service procedures, use of novel processing techniques and antimicrobial sanitizers to improve fresh-cut produce washing, survival and inactivation of bacterial pathogens in low moisture foods.
Kathiravan Krishnamurthy, PhD
Engineer/Research Assistant Professor
Department: IFSH/IIT
Office: Room 305, Bldg. 91
Phone: 708.563.8272
Fax: 708.563.1873
Email: kkrishn2@iit.edu
Expertise: Food Engineering, Novel Food Processing Technologies, Modeling
Education: PhD and MS in Agricultural and Biological Engineering, BS in Agricultural Engineering
Research Interests: Novel food processing technologies for sterilization, pasteurization, and/or value addition; mathematical modeling; high pressure processing; ultrasound applications; plasma processing; microwave heating; continuous and pulsed ultraviolet light processing; gamma irradiation; infrared heating; and engineering design, control and optimization.
Alvin Lee PhD
Director, IFSH Center for Processing Innovation/Research Associate Professor
Department: IFSH/IIT
Office: Room 234, Bldg. 90
Phone: 708.563.8277
Fax: 708.563.1873
Email: alee33@iit.edu
Expertise: Microbiology, Food Safety and Food Virology
Education: PhD, BAppSci (Hons) in Applied Biology and Biotechnology
Research Interests: Microbiologist and virologist with more than 10 years' research experience. Currently leads a number of food safety related projects at IFSH involving fresh-cut produce, norovirus transfer within the foodservice sector and non-thermal technologies. Dr. Lee also manages the BSL-3 facility at IFSH. Current research support includes funding from USDA, NCFPD, FDA and various industry contracts. He is also an instructor for food microbiology in the IIT's Masters of Science program and has previously mentored more than 15 graduate students and post-doctoral fellows.
Rich Schell, JD
Adjunct Professor, Food Law and Regulation
Department: IFSH/IIT
Office: Wagner & Schell, LLP (Law firm, Des Plaines, IL)
Phone: 847.759.9833
Fax: 847.759.9834
Email: schell@wagneruslaw.com
Expertise: International Food Law and Regulatory Compliance
Education: Law Degree, Juris Doctorate; BA, English and History
Teaching Interests: International food and agriculture; agricultural and food entrepreneurship, including organics and green/sustainability initiatives; food and farm traceability; farmland ownership; legal and regulatory compliance as a competitive advantage for food companies and entrepreneurs. Past president of The Chicago Farmers, an agricultural business organization that focuses on educating people and companies on agribusiness and farmland ownership. Author of the "Illinois Legal Guide to Direct Marketing for Food Entrepreneurs."
Jason Wan, PhD
Associate Director, IFSH and Research Professor of Food Microbiology and Biochemistry
Department: IFSH/IIT
Office: Room 216, Bldg. 90
Phone: 708.563.8287
Email: jwan1@iit.edu
Expertise: Molecular Microbiology, Protein Biochemistry, Dairy and Innovative Processing
Education: PhD in Biochemistry, MS in Dairy Science, BS in Animal Science
Research Interests: Molecular microbiology including development of DNA-based methods for detection, differentiation and tracking of foodborne pathogens in food systems and environment. Emerging nonthermal processing technologies, including high pressure processing (HPP), pulsed electric field (PEF), ultrasound, UV and cool plasma, for microbial inactivation, shelf-life extension and food safety enhancement. Dairy processing, protein chemistry, and development and evaluation of bioactive dairy ingredients for functional food applications.
Darsh Wasan, PhD
University Distinguished Professor, Motorola Chair in Chemical Engineering and Vice President for International Affairs
Department: IIT
Office: Room 228, Perlstein Hall
Phone: 312.567.3001
Email: wasan@iit.edu
Expertise: Food Colloids, Cleaning of Food Surfaces, Chemical Engineering
Education: BS, PhD in Chemical Engineering
Research Interests: Food processing, food foams and emulsions, and the use of nanofluids to remove bacterial contamination from food contact surfaces. The development of imaging techniques to examine virus attachment to fresh produce, interfacial rheology. Founder, National Center for Food Safety and Technology, the nation's first collaborative consortium joining industry, academia and government, funded by the FDA.
Wei Zhang, PhD
Principal Scientist/Associate Professor of Biology
Department: IFSH/IIT
Office: Room 233, Bldg. 90
Phone: 708.563.2980
Fax: 708.563.1873
Email: zhangw@iit.edu
Expertise: Food Microbiology, Molecular Biology
Education: BS, PhD in Food Science
Research Interests: Microbial food safety and security; PCR detection and molecular tracking of foodborne pathogens; comparative genomics; study of bacterial pathogenesis, epidemiology, evolution and emergence of new pathogens; identification of novel bacterial virulence factors; DNA microarray analysis of global gene expressions of foodborne pathogens under environmental or food processing stresses; MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry analysis of bacterial proteomes; applications of DNA fingerprinting technology; development of high throughput SNP genotyping for foodborne disease surveillance and bioterrorism investigations.