FAPC doctoral student makes top three at IFT Annual Meeting
By Kylee Willard
FAPC Communications Services Graduate Assistant
(Stillwater, Okla. – July 6, 2011) A Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center graduate surfaces as a top three winner in the highly decorated posted competition at the IFT Annual Meeting and Food Expo in New Orleans, La., held in June.
Dinesh Babu, a recent Oklahoma State University food microbiology doctoral graduate and his advisor and FAPC food microbiologist, Dr. Peter Muriana, submitted their research abstract to IFT’s Food Toxicology Division graduate paper competition.
“Receiving the third place award at the national IFT meeting was a major accomplishment,” Babu said. “I am happy my work was recognized by the toxicology and safety evaluation division at IFT.”
During the poster presentation, titled “Rapid and sensitive detection of aflatoxin in animal feeds and food grains using immunomagnetic bead-based recovery and Real-Time immuno quantitative-PCR (RT-iqPCR) assay,” Babu shared his research and answered questions from the panel of judges. A research paper of this work has recently been published in the Journal of Microbiological Methods.
“I received comments about application of the methodology we developed to detect low levels of aflatoxin and how easily the method can be applied for complex matrices of food and feed extracts,” Babu said. “There were interesting questions on how the method can be utilized in other samples such as peanut oils and milk, where the toxin may be present in very low levels.”
Babu reflects on his work at OSU and the FAPC.
“I am proud to get our work published,” Babu said. “It was a pleasure working with Dr. Muriana who never ran out of ideas to troubleshoot some of the experimental problems. I also enjoyed learning the skills of real time PCR and developing the immuno-quantitative PCR methodology.”
Muriana said it was a pleasure to have a student like Babu.
“Dinesh demonstrated an inexhaustible effort on his part to obtain data and try new approaches when it was needed,” Muriana said. “He was helpful to other students in the lab; that’s what makes a difference at times in having someone who not only does well for themselves, but also makes a difference in the research of others. It was truly my pleasure to have him in our lab.”
Currently, Babu works at the University of Arkansas as a post-doctoral fellow in food science. Some of his responsibilities include evaluation of retail deli meat slicer equipments for thermal inactivation of Listeria monocytogenes, extraction strategies of essential oils and testing for the inhibition of food pathogens using essential oils, and enzymatic assay and safety evaluation of vegetable fermentation brine solutions.
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Oklahoma State University is a modern land-grant system of interdisciplinary programs that prepares students for success. As Oklahoma’s only university with a statewide presence, OSU improves the lives of people in Oklahoma, the nation, and the world through integrated, high-quality teaching, research, and outreach. OSU has more than 35,000 students across its five-campus system and more than 23,000 on its Stillwater campus, with students from all 50 states and 118 nations. Established in 1890, OSU has graduated more than 235,000 students to serve the state of Oklahoma, the nation and the world.
