Bio
Ph D., food science, Alabama A&M University, 1996; joined UNL faculty 2001. Jones works as an associate professor where she teaches multiple classes about food preparation, safety and sanitation. She is also an extension coordinator with the university and she works to help improve Nebraskans understanding of food literacy; the knowledge of food, including preparation, safety, and nutrition as it relates to a healthy lifestyle. She works in depth with 4-H Foods and health and wellness, especially among minority populations and is currently working in the areas of Native American foods, local foods, 4-H foods curriculum, and social media.
Byron Chaves-Elizondo
faculty
Assoc Professor
Food Science & Technology
4024729196
byron.chaves-elizondo@unl.edu
Bio
Ph.D., Food Safety/Microbiology, Texas Tech University; Chaves researches and works in microbial food safety, especially the safety of foods of animal origin. He runs the Food Safety Microbiology Lab which studies the spread, detection, and control of foodborne pathogens along the farm-to-table continuum. Chaves leads more specific research on the process and product validation of physical, chemical, and biological post-harvest mitigation strategies to reduce the risk of pathogen transmission. As well as the methodologies to better detect foodborne pathogens in multiple food and animal matrices and the phenotypical and genotypical characteristics that allow pathogens to survive, multiple, and even thrive in food processing environments. His extension and outreach program focuses on working closely with the Nebraska food industry to improve microbial safety and protect public health.
Bio
Ph.D., dairy science, the Ohio State University, 1990; with postdoctorate training in immunology at Cornell University and in pulmonary at the University of Michigan, joined UNL faculty in 2004. He was Allergen Program Manager at Monsanto from 1997-2004. He manages the www.AllergenOnline.org database for risk assessment of genetically engineered organisms and novel food proteins. He has served as chair of the WHO/IUIS Allergen Nomenclature Sub-Committee since June 2014. His laboratory has evaluated genetically engineered crops, including bacterial blight resistant banana for Uganda, golden rice for the Philippines and phytophthora-resistant potato for the East Asian community, as well as Omega 3 fatty acid canola and fast-growing Aqua Advantage salmon. He helps train scientists in India, China, Pakistan, Peru, Argentina and Thailand about the CODEX Alimentarius Commission guideline on genetic engineering safety.
Andrew Benson
faculty
Director
Nebraska Food for Health Center
Professor of Food Science and Biotechnology
Nebraska Food for Health Center
Ph.D., microbiology, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Health Science Center at San Antonio, Texas, 1992; joined UNL faculty in 1996. In 2017, Benson established the Nebraska Food for Health Center, a $40.3 million collaboration among academic researchers, food and drug manufacturers and philanthropists to improve human health by linking agriculture and food production to wellness and disease prevention through microbiome research. Benson pioneered study of the gut microbiome as a complex trait, demonstrating how individual host genetic factors control microbial species that make up the microbiome. Spearheading research for the Discovery Program of the Nebraska Food for Health Center, Benson works closely with an interdisciplinary team of crop plant geneticists who use genetic analysis to define molecular components of grains that affect the human gut microbiome. He has received more than $25 million in competitive grant funding and in 2019 was elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. He serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for Neogen’s genomics operations and serves as a consultant and expert witness for applications of bacterial genomics and population genetics in litigation for foodborne outbreaks and product labeling.
Bio
Dr. Andrew Benson teaches food microbiology and advanced food microbiology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His two primary research areas are genome evolution in pathogenic bacteria and evolution and development of our microflora. In 2017, Benson established the Nebraska Food for Health Center, a $40.3 million collaboration among academic researchers, food and drug manufacturers and philanthropists to improve human health by linking agriculture and food production to wellness and disease prevention through microbiome research. Benson pioneered study of the gut microbiome as a complex trait, demonstrating how individual host genetic factors control microbial species that make up the microbiome. Benson works closely with an interdisciplinary team of crop plant geneticists who use genetic analysis to define molecular components of grains that affect the human gut microbiome. He has received more than $25 million in competitive grant funding. He serves as a consultant and expert witness for applications of bacterial genomics and population genetics in litigation for food-borne outbreaks and product labeling.