Florida State University’s faculty and staff are driven to positively shape the lives of everyday consumers – recording countless hours in research areas that affect many industries and create life-changing advancements.

Associate Professor Prashant Singh, one of the nation’s most accomplished food safety microbiologists, is an example of FSU’s research meeting real-world impact. With the help of partnering company SeaD Consulting and his own research team, Singh’s rapid DNA test that reveals whether the shrimp we eat is domestic or imported is impacting several communities.

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On Tuesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced an outbreak of Escherichia coli (E. coli) linked to McDonald’s quarter pounders.

According to the Associated Press, 49 cases between Sept. 27 through Oct. 11 were reported in the states of Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Known widely as E. coli, the bacteria are found in places like the intestines of people and animals, but some can be harmful to the body.

Florida State University Health, Nutrition, and Food Sciences Associate Professor Prashant Singh is a food safety microbiologist by training, and his core area of research is the development of rapid methods for the detection of foodborne pathogens.

His laboratory focuses explicitly on developing methods for the specific detection of virulent strains of Shiga toxin-producing non-O157 E. coli and salmonella.

Singh’s areas of expertise include E. coli, food safety, food-borne outbreaks and pathogens and food microbiology. He was recently awarded a $150,000 grant to develop a method to detect salmonella contamination in beef samples.

Singh is available to speak with reporters on the latest E. coli outbreak.

Prashant Singh, Associate Professor of Health, Nutrition, and Food Sciences
Email: psingh2@fsu.edu

Quotes from Prashant Singh:

On the E. coli outbreak being traced to slivered onions:
“Onions, which are another ingredient for the McDonald’s quarter pounders, do not have a mandatory STEC testing requirement, and they do not undergo high heat treatment to ensure the elimination of contaminating STEC strains. In this outbreak, onions are also considered a suspect.”  

On the testing of E. coli in beef:
“In the United States, E. coli O157:H7, along with six other E. coli serogroups (O26, O45, O111, O103, O121, and O145), are considered adulterants in beef, which means that all beef products must be tested before it is released in the commerce. Among them, E. coli O157:H7 strains are most frequently isolated from beef samples. The E. coli O157:H7 strain can cause life-threatening infections. The STEC strains have two crucial virulence genes (i.e., eae and stx ). The eae gene codes for intimin protein, which facilitates strong attachment of these pathogens to the host cells. Meanwhile, the stx gene encodes for Shiga toxin, which can bind to the GB3 receptors and are found on the surface of intestine and kidney cells. The toxin can also lyse the red blood cells. In extreme cases, STEC strains can lead to hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which involves kidney failure and death. What makes these infections even worse is that antibiotics cannot be used against them, as the administration of antibiotics induces the Shiga toxin production by STEC cells, which will overwhelm the body.

 “Due to these reasons, the beef samples are always tested for the presence of E. coli O157:H7. This testing is performed internally by large beef processors, whereas small and medium-sized operations ship the samples to an external testing lab, which has a longer turnaround time.”

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Two Florida State University College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences professors have been awarded food safety grants by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Prashant Singh’s and Hailey Kuang’s two-year grants will propel their research and help position FSU as a national leader in food safety innovation.

Kuang, an assistant professor of measurement and statistics in the Department of Education Psychology and FSU’s Learning Systems Institute, was awarded a $150,000 grant that applies artificial intelligence to address global food safety challenges.

Singh, a health, nutrition and food science associate professor, received a $150,000 grant aimed at developing a method to detect salmonella contamination in beef samples.

Both grants are sponsored by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Kuang’s focus addresses areas that contain antimicrobial resistance (AMR), one of the top global public health and development threats. According to the World Health Organization, misuse of antimicrobials in humans, animals and plants is the main driver in the development of drug-resistant pathogens.

“Our project, ‘AI4Food: Artificial Intelligence for Food Science Research and Education Initiative,’ positions FSU as a pioneer in integrating AI technologies with food safety research,” Kuang said.

“Our project, ‘AI4Food: Artificial Intelligence for Food Science Research and Education Initiative,’ positions FSU as a pioneer in integrating AI technologies with food safety research.”

– Hailey Kuang, assistant professor of measurement and statistics in the Department of Education Psychology and FSU’s Learning Systems Institute

Kuang’s goal is to develop an AI-enabled portable sensor that rapidly detects AMR in food supply chains. The research involves designing a portable device to assist in AMR testing, training machine-learning algorithms to identify AMR testing and validating the performance of machine-learning sensors for AMR detection by using meat and fresh produce as food models.

“By enhancing efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance — a growing global health threat — this technology makes FSU a leader in advanced food safety innovation,” Kuang said.

The outcome of her work could educate the students who specialize in food science and food safety. Kuang’s research has the potential to create a comprehensive program that equips students with cutting-edge AI, sensing techniques and food safety expertise.

Kuang specializes in developing and applying psychometric and statistical methods to measure cognitive and psychological traits and also collaborates with scholars across many disciplines, including food science.

Singh’s grant includes research-based and educational components in containing salmonella, one of the largest threats facing the global food industry. His research will be used to develop a novel digital PCR assay for the beef industry to measure the amount of salmonella contamination in samples.

A food safety microbiologist by training, Singh’s core area of research focuses on the development of rapid methods to detect foodborne pathogens. His work has been published in more than 30 food science publications.

Singh said the additional USDA funding enables his team to expand their research and develop solutions the food industry needs.

“Only three commercially available test kits for testing salmonella load in food samples are available,” Singh said. “These commercially available kits suffer from reproducibility issues and complicated DNA isolation protocols. The assay developed in our lab solves these problems, is highly reproducible and is suited for high throughput industrial applications. The workflow developed through this grant can be expanded to other food commodities, enabling a bigger impact.”

His research is aimed at creating a faster development of robust foodborne pathogen detection.

By creating a standardized testing method, Singh is serving a wide user base that includes small and large food processors, federal laboratories, third-party testing laboratories, as well as students.

FSU’s department of Health, Nutrition, and Food Sciences includes innovative programs that analyze physical performance, health and wellness. The department is home to two renowned centers in the Institute of Sports Science and Medicine and the Center of Integrative Nutrition and Food Research.

For more information, visit cehhs.fsu.edu/hnfs.

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From inspiring speakers to commercialization seminars, the inaugural Florida State University Discovery Days had something for everyone.

The weeklong celebration showcased research, creativity and innovation from colleges and departments around campus. Here’s a look at some of what was featured:

SHARING HIS STORY: DR. Q
The week began with a visit from Dr. Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, chair of the Department of Neurologic Surgery at Mayo Clinic’s campus in Florida and the director of Mayo Clinic’s Brain Tumor Stem Cell Research Laboratory, where he and his team work to find a cure for brain cancer.

Dr. Quiñones-Hinojosa — who goes by Dr. Q — shared the story of how he came to the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant and worked on farms until he received a scholarship to attend the University of California-Berkeley. From there, he went to Harvard Medical School before eventually joining Mayo Clinic.

At the end of his presentation, Dr. Q shared a portion of the Emmy Award-winning 2020 Netflix docuseries “The Surgeon’s Cut,” which chronicles that story.

“I think it is an amazing gift that I am given every single day, that my patients allow me to use my hands to be able to navigate their brains and to use my own brain to defeat their diseases,” Dr. Q said in the episode. “That, to me, is the beauty of what I do.”

FSU President Richard McCullough joined Dr. Q on stage for a Q&A session with students and faculty to conclude the symposium.

“I have failed more times than I have succeeded, but I have never failed to learn from my mistakes and try again,” Quiñones-Hinojosa told the audience.

INNOVATING FOR IMPACT
The FSU-headquartered National High Magnetic Field Laboratory hosted a Discovery Challenge, in which five faculty presented their research in front of three judges with venture capital experience. Presenters earned a combined $100,000 in funding for new projects that show commercial potential.

Associate Professor Prashant Singh from the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences took the top prize of $50,000 for a project aimed at improving food safety, followed by FAMU-FSU College of Engineering Assistant Professor Rebekah Sweat, who received second prize of $25,000 as well as the crowd favorite award of $10,000.

“There is so much potential here: the pitches, the faculty, the way that they were talking about their science in a new way, thinking about how they are going to market that and let those technologies change the world,” Vice President for Research Stacey Patterson said. “We gave away $100,000 in prizes to help move those technologies to market. This is the first step for these faculty to really start thinking about what their technologies can mean in the world, and this prize money gives them seed funding to help them think about it more and more time and resources to be able to do that.”

The university also co-hosted the Innovation Ecosystem Workshop with UIDP, an organization dedicated to addressing issues affecting academic-corporate collaboration.

FSU researchers and professionals from business, government, economic development and health care met to discuss common challenges and goals and how they can work together.

“Florida State University serves as the innovation anchor for Northwest Florida, and with other significant R&D resources, such as the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and Florida A&M University, a leading HBCU, this region has much to offer to private sector partners and other organizations interested in generating impact from their investments,” said Anthony Boccanfuso, president and CEO of UIDP.

FSU Health is a recent example. Florida State University is partnering with Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH) to build an academic health center on the TMH campus while also developing partnerships with other health systems such as Mayo Clinic, HCA and others across the region.

“We have so many resources in this community to develop research and to be innovative,” said Dr. Dean Watson, Chief Integration Officer at TMH.

DISCOVERY IN THE ARTS
Discovery took center stage at “Innovation and the Arts: Scholarship-Performance-Creativity,” a night of performances from faculty in music, English, mathematics and art departments.

“FSU is a hub for innovative research that makes an essential contribution to society while being a constant inspiration for our campus community,” said College of Music Professor Iain Quinn. “As a member of the faculty I am aware of the tremendous research of colleagues that defines the excellence of current scholarship for our students and the larger academy.”

Arts and science intersected with “Physics + Art: Waves,” the first event of this year’s Saturday Morning Physics program. Attendees learned about the physics of all types of waves, from the ocean to the radio. More Saturday Morning Physics events are scheduled through Nov. 11, with topics including particle physics, quantum mechanics, the James Webb Space Telescope and more.

EDUCATION AND ENGAGEMENT FOR STUDENTS AND FACULTY
Along with celebrating ongoing research, Discovery Days was also an opportunity to prepare for future innovations. FSU hosted several seminars to help faculty and students, with topics that included an introduction to the National Science Foundation’s guidelines for Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer, 3D printing technologies, and research from the Institute of Sports Sciences and Medicine being used by FSU student-athletes.

The Office of the President and the Center for Undergraduate Research and Academic Engagement hosted the President’s Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence, which featured research and creative projects from departments across FSU.

“One of the greatest things about undergraduate research that I love so much is that it gives you an opportunity to be with people — grad students, postdocs or even your professor — who can provide you with help and advice and guide you and cheer you on,” McCullough said. “It’s really been an important part of who I am, and I’m so proud that we have undergraduate research as a vital part of what we do here at Florida State University.”

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Research to improve the detection of Salmonella and to speed up the development of new medicines received funding from a Florida State University program that supports faculty moving their work from the lab to the marketplace.

FSU’s Office of the Vice President for Research awarded faculty members $70,000 through the Spring 2023 GAP Commercialization Investment Program.

“Translating technology from talented FSU faculty is an important part of our mission,” said Vice President for Research Stacey Patterson. “Programs like GAP help mature these often-nascent ideas and get them out to the world where they can have positive impact.”

Funded proposals were:

A more precise system for detecting Salmonella in food:
Salmonella is a leading cause of food poisoning worldwide, causing 93 million infections every year. Current testing methods for Salmonella don’t distinguish between samples with a single cell of the bacteria and millions of cells. Prashant Singh, an assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology in the College of Health and Human Sciences, developed a test to analyze the concentration of the bacteria in samples, not just the presence. His test can tell users if the contamination level in a sample is zero, low, medium or high. Agencies that regulate food in the United States are considering adopting testing methods that can quantify how much Salmonella exists in poultry samples, which would provide a broader market for Singh’s test. GAP funding will help him improve the latest version of his testing method.

A process to speed up the discovery of new drugs:
Developing new drugs typically costs more than a billion dollars and can take more than a decade. Among the challenges are identifying a target on which a drug can act and optimizing different candidate medicines. Analytical chemistry methods can screen interactions between a target and libraries of small molecules to help create new drugs. Christian Bleiholder, an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences, developed software to improve the drug candidate selection and optimization process. He will use GAP funding to improve his software’s computational efficiency, integrate it with cloud-based computing services and make it more user-friendly, with the goal of creating a software product that is ready for use in industry.

For more information about the GAP competition, visit the FSU Office of Commercialization.

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