Annual Report - Center for Food Safety Engineering - Purdue ...

Welcome from the DirectorThe year 2008 marks the eighth anniversary of the Center for Food Safety Engineering (CFSE)at Purdue University. Our partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture-AgriculturalResearch Service (USDA-ARS) Eastern Regional Research Center continues to create signifi cantresearch and outreach impacts. This year, the CFSE team published 31 peer-reviewed researchpublications and presented 18 talks at national science meetings. CFSE scientists also havebeen forming partnerships with international countries. Scientifi c presentations and collaborationseekingvisits were made this year to Brazil, China, Hong Kong, and Scotland. Our trip to Jiao-TongUniversity in Shanghai, China was especially important in fostering a new international collaborationbetween USDA-ARS and Jiao-Tong University.Dr. Richard H. LintonDirector of the Center forFood Safety Engineering765.494.64816481linton@purdue.eduThis year, our research program underwent a USDA-ARS Offi ce of Scientifi c Quality Review(OSQR), and the future direction of our research program was identifi ed. A research priority forthe next few years is development of technological platforms that improve microbial and chemicalhazard detection. These new technologies will advance detection of bacterial pathogens includingListeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Campylobacter spp., and Salmonella spp. andof chemical hazards that may present food safety and food defense concerns.Our detection-based technologies will build upon prior success with optical biosensors, cellbasedbiosensors, bio-chips (lab-on-a-chip), microarrays, infrared spectroscopy (includingFourier transform infrared FTIR), enzyme linked immunosorbant assays, polymerase chainreactions, impedance-based microbiology, scanning microscopy, confocal raman microscopy,bioluminescence, DNA/RNA probes, and bioreporter-based chemical sensors. The exciting BActeriaRapid Detection using Optical scattering Technology (BARDOT) system is being evaluated byindustry and regulatory agencies, and we hope that it will be available for wide-scale use sometimenext year.I continue to be impressed with the collaborative research efforts of Purdue University and USDA-ARS scientists and feel privileged to serve as director of the center. If you are interested in learningmore about CFSE, please visit our Web site at www.cfse.purdue.edu or contact me directly.Message from USDADr. Shu-I TuSupervisory ResearchChemist USDA-ARS,Eastern RegionalResearch Center215.233.6466shui.tu@ars.usda.govAs the collaboration between the CFSE at Purdue University and the USDA-ARS EasternRegional Research Center continues, I am grateful to witness the continual growth, maturation,and research impact of this partnership. We are pleased to learn that the ARS-Purdue team hassuccessfully completed the USDA-ARS OSQR process with outstanding ratings. This resultsignals that the ARS-Purdue project is now considered to be an integral part of USDA-ARSresearch efforts. Together, we have received increased recognition as an important contributorto the technological advancement of pathogen detection in food—evidenced by the fact that theteam received invitations from the International Workshop on Rapid Methods and Automation inMicrobiology to conduct half-day symposiums on molecular methodologies in August 2006, June2007, and June 2008. The team received extraordinary praise from Dr. Daniel Y. C. Fung, Professorof Food Microbiology, Kansas State University, for invaluable contributions to the workshop, andhe extended an invitation for our continuing involvement in 2009. In May 2008, our team went toShanghai, China to attend the fi rst annual meeting of the Joint United States-China Food SafetyCenter, an international collaboration established between the ARS and Jiao-Tong University inShanghai. This collaboration is part of the cooperative research activities between the USDA andthe Ministry of Science and Technology, China (MOST). With this collaboration in place, I believethat our ARS-Purdue team will become an important international research enterprise in the nearfuture.2Center for Food Safety Engineering