Joseph Usack, Ph.D., Assistant Professor at UGA’s Department of Food Science & Technology, will kick off the session with a deep dive into the principles and applications of precision fermentation, covering genetic engineering, fermentation processes, and its role in producing sustainable ingredients like animal-free proteins and vitamins.

Following his talk, Shalima Sreenath, M.Eng, Head of Downstream Processing at Cellibre, will explore the challenges of scaling precision fermentation for commercial success, addressing critical factors such as manufacturing constraints, product stability, and downstream processing. Don’t miss this opportunity to gain valuable insights into the future of biotechnology and its transformative potential in the food industry!

Natural and human-made disasters can cause tremendous physical damage, societal change, and suffering. In addition to their effects on people, disasters have been shown to alter the microbial population in the area affected.  Studying microbial adaptation in disaster sites can reveal new biological processes, including mechanisms by which some microbes could become pathogenic and others could become beneficial (e.g., used for bioremediation). Given the accelerating pace of human-caused climate change and the increasing encroachment of the natural word by human activities, it is likely that this area of research will become increasingly relevant to the broader field of microbiology.