Klaenhammer Named AAAS Fellow

Dr. Todd R. Klaenhammer, distinguished university professor, has been elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest scientific society and publisher of the journal Science.

Klaenhammer, the William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor in the Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences, the Department of Microbiology and the Department of Genetics, is among 531 scientists to be honored as an AAAS fellow in 2009. He will be recognized at the association’s February meeting in San Diego.

Klaenhammer was honored for “distinguished international contributions to research and for leadership in the fields of microbiology and genomics of lactic acid bacteria used beneficially in bioprocessing and health.”

Klaenhammer studies genetic approaches to improving lactic acid bacteria, the “good” bacteria used as starter cultures and probiotics in fermented food and dairy products, like yogurt. His recent research efforts have investigated the molecular mechanisms responsible for the survival and activity of probiotic bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract and then used that information to develop live bacterial delivery systems for oral vaccines. Klaenhammer 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.