North Carolina State University scientist Todd Klaenhammer, Ph.D., whose award-winning research has been boosted by two $40,000 grants from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, has landed another major accolade.
Klaenhammer has won the 2010 Elie Metchnikoff Prize in biotechnology, given by the International Dairy Foundation and its partners to celebrate scientific discoveries. The prize is named for Nobel prize winner Elie Metchnikoff, a pioneer in studying the potential health effects of eating certain beneficial bacteria.
Klaenhammer was honored for his discoveries in genetic approaches to improving lactic acid bacteria, the "good" bacteria used as starter cultures and probiotics in fermented food and dairy products, such as yogurt.
His recent research has focused on the molecular mechanisms responsible for the survival and activity of probiotic bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. He used that information to develop live bacterial delivery systems for oral vaccines.
Klaenhammer is a Distinguished University Professor and William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of food, bioprocessing and nutrition sciences. He also directs the Southeast Dairy Foods Research Center, which develops and applies new technologies for processing milk and its components into products with improved qualities.