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Klaenhammer wins Metchnikoff Prize

Dr. Todd Klaenhammer, Distinguished University Professor and William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of food, bioprocessing and nutrition sciences, was one of three winners of the IDF Elie Metchnikoff Prize 2010.

The prize is awarded by the International Dairy Foundation (IDF) and its partners to celebrate scientific discoveries. Award winners were announced at the IDF Symposia on Science and Technology of Fermented Milk and on Microstructure of Dairy Products in Tromsö, Norway, in early June.

Metchnikoff Prizes were awarded in three categories: nutrition and health, biotechnology and microbiology. Klaenhammer won in the biotechnology category.

He was cited for “discoveries focused on industrial application of molecular genetics to food grade lactic acid bacteria. His groups’ research efforts have focused on (i) design of novel genetic strategies to provide bacteriophage resistance to dairy starter cultures; (ii) discovery and characterization of bacteriocins produced by lactic acid bacteria; and (iii) use of genomic approaches to investigate the functional properties of probiotic lactobacilli and examine the roles of the dairy environment on the expression of key traits.”

The IDF Elie Metchnikoff Prize 2010 was created by the International Dairy Federation and its partner organizations, Institut Pasteur and the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) with the support of the following industry partners: Yakult, Danone Research, Nestlé, Mead Johnson, DSM Food Specialties, YLFA International, Danisco, Chr. Hansen and the California Dairy Research Foundation. The key objectives of the initiative are to recognize and celebrate outstanding scientific discoveries in the fields of microbiology, biotechnology and nutrition and health with regard to fermented milks and to promote further research and innovation in the dairy industry.

The prize is named after Nobel prize winner Elie Metchnikoff, who first promoted the concept of creating beneficial health effects through ingestion of living bacteria.

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