Lab members
Current members:
Edward Dudley, Ph.D. I was a microbiology student at Penn State in 1989, set on going to graduate school for immunology, when I met a few food microbiologists. Hearing about the role microbiologists played in food safety, fermentations, and preventing spoilage — I was hooked. My career has taken me through the worlds of dairy fermentations (working with Lactococcus lactis, Lactobacillus helveticus, and Lactobacillus casei), and human pathogens, first working on enteroaggregative Escherichia coli, and since moving to Penn State, E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella. I’ve also been fascinated by CRISPRs. Outside of my research, I teach our graduate-level introduction to food microbiology, Fd Sc 500A, and junior level food microbiology course, Fd Sc 408. I’m past head of the Applied and Environmental Sciences track of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), am an Editor for Applied and Environmental Microbiology, and a co-Editor of EcoSal Plus. In 2023, I was elected into the American Academy of Microbiology. Learn more about my professional life from my faculty website and from PubMed. On the side, I’m an instrument-rated commercial pilot slowly working to become a certified flight instructor, and a Senior Member of the Civil Air Patrol.
Postdoctoral Fellows
Dr. Erin Nawrocki. Erin came from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Microbiology. She has worked on various E. coli projects including characterizing a microcin that enhances toxin production by E. coli O157:H7, and identifying factors mediating adherence to bovine recto-anal junction cells. She is the recipient of a USDA Postdoctoral Fellowship Award.
Dr. Yezhi Fu. Yezhi joined Penn State after receiving his Ph.D from Purdue University. He has a broad background ranging from antimicrobial packaging to the genomics of Salmonella enterica. His has been studying the population genomics of Salmonella isolated from wild birds.
Graduate Students
Sharon Nieves-Miranda. Sharon began her Ph.D studies in August 2019, after receiving a B.S. from the University of Puerto Rico Aguadilla. She is characterizing new O antigen gene clusters (a whole bunch of them!) identified among the thousands of E. coli genomes we have generated to date. She received a scholarship from the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service for her studies.
Nyduta Mbogo. Nyduta began her M.S. degree in Fall 2021. She has led the lab as we stick our feet in the SARS-CoV-2 field, screening wastewater from two different facilities for the virus by RT-qPCR and whole genome sequencing. She is also a recipient of a USDA National Needs Fellowship.
Edwin Rivera-Lopez. Edwin joined us Fall 2022 after completing an M.S. in Food Science and Technology at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez. He also holds an M.S. in Quality, Hygiene and Food Safety from the University of Nebrija at Madrid. He’s working on a newly funded project for us, identifying genetic determinants of E. coli O157:H7 that predict phage susceptibility.
Jie Feng. Jie has a B.S. from Iowa State University, and started his M.S. in the lab Fall 2022 after holding positions at Hy-Vee Commissary, Sheetz, and Shannon International Business, Inc. He’s currently working on genome sequencing and analysis of E. coli O157:H7 isolates within the E. coli Reference Center, in order to expand our understanding of the collection.
Undergraduate Students
Zoe Goldblum. Zoe joined the lab during the deep throws of the pandemic, and remains with us today. She is an undergraduate in Immunology and Infectious Diseases with an interest in public health. Most recently, she has been isolating and sequencing Salmonella isolates obtained from wastewater facilities. She is the founder and current director of Penn State’s Science Olympiad Team
Lab alumni and last known location:
Dr. Hillary (Figler) Mosso. Hillary joined us Spring 2015, and graduated in 2019 with her Ph.D student in Immunology and Infectious Diseases, which is under the Molecular Cellular and Integrative Biosciences (MCIBS) graduate program. She worked on identifying a molecule that is produced by a commensal E. coli isolate that increases virulence factor production of the foodborne pathogen, E. coli O157:H7. She now is a Senior Scientist with Rancho BioSciences.
Andrea Eyler (Keefer). Andrea joined us Fall 2016, and finished her M.S. degree Spring 2018. She studied the genomics of Salmonella enterica, including investigating plasmid-mediated antimicrobial resistance. She joined Battelle National Biodefense Institute to continue working on biological threats.
Rebecca Abelman. Rebecca began her M.S. degree along with Andrea (above) in Fall 2016, and also worked on whole genome sequencing. Her thesis demonstrated that Shigella sonnei isolates from Pennsylvania patients were genetically similar to those acquired internationally. Rebecca came to us with a strong clinical microbiology background, and distinguished herself as the only student to date who could identify bacterial species just by looking at the colony on a plate. She left to join the Maryland Department of Health, and more recently transitioned to become the Clinical Laboratory Manager for BD.
Sydney Majowicz, B. S. Food Science 2018. Sydney worked on a number of projects in the lab, including leading our group’s collaboration with the FDA to sequence 1,000 E. coli isolates from the Penn State E. coli Reference Center. Upon graduation, she stayed at Penn State for her Ph.D in Molecular, Cellular, and Integrated Biosciences (MCIBS), studying positive-strand RNA viruses.
Lingzi Xiaoli. Lingzi joined us Fall 2012 as a Ph.D student. She worked on E. coli O157:H7 projects related to toxin production. She developed an ELISA in collaboration with Matreya for the detection of Shiga toxin. After graduating in 2016, she stayed around as an FDA Fellow, working on genome sequencing through the GenomeTrakr program. She left us in 2018 to join IHRC, Inc., in Atlanta, Georgia.
Natalie Keller, B.S. Food Science 2017. Natalie was a member of the Schreyer Honors College, and joined the group as a freshman. She completed an honors thesis “Antimicrobial efficacy of lecithin and eugenol on Listeria monocytogenes“. Today she is a Food Scientist at La Colombe Coffee Roasters.
Michael J. DiMarzio. Mike was USDA National Needs Fellow who joined the lab Fall 2011. His initial research focus was on Salmonella CRISPR, determining whether a correlation existed between sequence type and antibiotic resistance profiles. For his Ph.D, he took the laboratory in a newer direction, asking questions related to the role of Lactobacillus bile salt hydrolases on gut health. He also was one of three student who led the development of a podcast series called Breaking the Food Scilence. Mike is in Massachusetts today working as a Product Development & Culinary Sciences Manager at Ocean Spray Cranberries.
Patrick Jurczyk, B.S. (2016). Food Science. Patrick worked on various CRISPR projects. Today he is
Matthew Doan, M.S., co-advised with Dr. Stephen Knabel. Matt was a Commander within the Medical Service Corps of the U.S. Navy, before returning to work on his Ph.D. He’s done some impressive things, including joining the response team after the Haiti earthquake.
Nikki Shariat, Ph.D (postdoc 2011-2015). Worked on the function, diversity and evolution of CRISPR elements in clinical isolates of Salmonella enterica, and exploited the dynamic nature of CRISPR sequences to develop subtyping methods. Her work encompassed collaborations with the Pennsylvania Department of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Food and Drug Administration. She’s off to her own academic career at the University of Georgia-Athens.
Meg Kirchner, B.S. Food Science 2015. I joined the lab in 2012 and worked on various Salmonella CRISPR projects, including a characterization of ser. Newport isolates (link below) and isolates from wildlife. Outside of the lab I enjoy hiking, drinking coffee, reading anything I can get my hands on, and doing things with the Penn State Outing Club. Meg left to pursue an M.S. degree at North Carolina State University. She is currently a Microbiologist with the US-FDA.
Kakolie (Goswami) Banerjee, Ph.D (2010-2014). Senior Scientist – Virology at MilliporeSigma.
Shuang Yin, Ph.D. (2010-2014). Scientist II and Supervisor at MilliporeSigma
Chun Chen, Ph.D. (2007-2013). Senior R&D Manager at FrieslandCampina
Emily McIntyre, B. S. (2010-2013). Emily did her honors thesis in the lab, and moved off to the University of Buffalo School of Dental Medicine after graduation.
Steven Strutt, B.S. Juniata College 2013. Steven was a summer student working on a US Army-funded summer internship. He finished his Ph.D at the University of California-Berkeley, working for Dr. Jennifer Doudna (as in, Nobel Prize Jennifer Doudna!) and is now Senior Scientist at Global Blood Therapeutics.
Annette Hartzell, B. S. (2009-2011). (followed by M.S. at University of Nebraska-Lincoln): Now a Senior Project Management and Product Development Specialist at Nestle.
Carrie (Lewis) Sowers, B. S. Carrie worked in the lab as an undergraduate students, and stayed at Penn State for a Ph.D in Penn State’s Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Biosciences program, studying the folding and degradation of insulin. She is now an Associate Director at AstraZeneca.
Amrita Puri, M. S. (2007-2009). Amrita worked on identifying microorganisms in compost that killed E. coli O157:H7. She first joined Invisible Sentinel after graduation, and is now a Field Marketing Specialist at Bio-Rad Laboratories
Co-advised graduate student alumni
Dr. Joe Loquasto (co-advised with Dr. Robert Roberts); R&D Project Manager at Crest Foods Co., Inc.
Dr. Donna Miller (co-advised with Dr. Robert Roberts); today is Global Dairy Technical Coordinator at General Mills.
Dr. Bindhu Verghese (co-advised with Dr. Stephen Knabel); last known location was senior staff scientist at Charles River Laboratories.
Fenyun Liu M.S. (co-advised with Dr. Stephen Knabel); moved to Salt Lake City to work at the University of Utah.
Dr. Kuanqing Liu M. S. (co-advised with Dr. Stephen Knabel); 2015 Ph.D from Baylor College of Medicine, postdoc from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Is now an Investigator for .
Visiting scientists
Amna Jalil. Amna was with us for six months in 2022, from the National University of Science and Technology in Pakistan, in the laboratory of Dr. Fazal Adnan. She worked on the genomics of extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli isolated from animals and humans.
Honore Ouattara, Ph.D (visiting scientist, 2017). Honore joined us as on a Fulbright Fellowship, to study microbial communities in cocoa fermentation and their impact on flavor development. He is an Associate Professor at Université Felix Houphouet-Boigny, Côte d’Ivoire.
Dr. Alaa Khalil Ismail. Alaa arrived in January 2015 for a six month stay as part of a Department of Defense sponsored program. His other job is with the Zoonotic Disease Unit in the Department of Laboratory Research, Ministry of Agriculture, Baghdad, Iraq. He worked on CRISPR-based detection systems for E. coli.