Attenuating Virulence in Enteric Pathogens Using Phytochemicals

Kumar Venkitanarayanan, University of Cleveland

November 29, 2017 @ 11:00 am to 12:00 pm

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Dr. Kumar Venkitanarayanan received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and Master of Veterinary Public Health degrees from the Kerala Agricultural University and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, India, respectively, after which he practiced as a large animal veterinarian for a year. He obtained his M.S. in Food Science and Technology in 1992 from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Ph.D. in Animal Science in 1996 from the University of Connecticut. From 1996-1999, he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Center for Food Safety, University of Georgia. In 1999, he joined the Department of Animal Science, University of Connecticut as an Assistant Professor. He currently serves as the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies at the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources, University of Connecticut. His research investigates the potential of plant-derived molecules, essential minerals and probiotics for attenuating virulence in foodborne and animal pathogens, and reducing their colonization in food animals. He has published 115 peer-reviewed journal manuscripts, 19 book chapters, 102 abstracts, and characterized five new bacterial genes. Having successful in garnering over 7 million dollars as funding for his research, Dr. Venkitanarayanan has mentored 14 Ph.D., 8 MS, 3 post-docs, and 40 undergraduate students in research. Currently, he is supervising one MS and two Ph.D. students. He has served as a panel manager and member on several federal review panels and reviewed research grants for national and international funding agencies.

Contact

Margaret Weber
maw71@psu.edu
814-865-7697