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Research Publications (Food Safety)

This page tracks research articles published in national and international peer-reviewed journals. Recent articles are available ahead of print and searchable by Journal, Article Title, and Category. Research publications are tracked across six categories: Bacterial Pathogens, Chemical Contaminants, Natural Toxins, Parasites, Produce Safety, and Viruses. Articles produced by USDA Grant Funding Agencies (requires login) and FDA Grant Funding Agencies (requires login) are also tracked in Scopus.

Displaying 1 - 8 of 8

  1. Evaluation of the virucidal efficacy of Klaran UVC LEDs against surface-dried norovirus

    • Microbiology
    • Human norovirus (HuNoV) is a highly contagious pathogenic virus that is transmitted through contaminated food, water, high-touch surfaces and aerosols. Globally, there are an estimated 685 million infections annually due to norovirus, including 200 million affecting children under the age of 5. HuNoV causes approximately 50, 000 child deaths per year and costs an estimated USD $60 billion annually in healthcare.

      • Norovirus
      • Viruses
  2. Amino acid substitutions in the H5N1 avian influenza haemagglutinin alter pH of fusion and receptor binding to promote a highly pathogenic phenotype in chickens

    • Microbiology
    • Highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza viruses cause devastating outbreaks in farmed poultry with serious consequences for animal welfare and economic losses. Zoonotic infection of humans through close contact with H5N1 infected birds is often severe and fatal. England experienced an outbreak of H5N1 in turkeys in 1991 that led to thousands of farmed bird mortalities.

      • Viruses
  3. In vitro characterization of six hepatitis B virus genotypes from clinical isolates using transfecting linear HBV genomes

    • Microbiology
    • Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a global public health problem with about 257 million chronically infected people and over 887000 deaths annually. In this study, 32 whole HBV genomes of various genotypes were amplified from clinical isolates to create transfection clones. The clones were sequenced, and their biological properties characterized by transfecting linear HBV clones into HepG2 cells.

      • Hepatitis
      • Viruses
  4. Interferon responses to norovirus infections: current and future perspectives

    • Microbiology
    • Human noroviruses (HuNoVs) are increasingly becoming the main cause of transmissible gastroenteritis worldwide, with hundreds of thousands of deaths recorded annually. Yet, decades after their discovery, there is still no effective treatment or vaccine. Efforts aimed at developing vaccines or treatment will benefit from a greater understanding of norovirus-host interactions, including the host response to infection.

      • Norovirus
      • Viruses
  5. Improved diagnosis of gastrointestinal infections using a semi-automated multiplex real-time PCR for detection of enteropathogens

    • Microbiology
    • The identification of enteropathogens is critical for the clinical management of patients with suspected gastrointestinal infection. The FLOW multiplex PCR system (FMPS) is a semi-automated platform (FLOW System, Roche) for multiplex real-time PCR analysis.

      • Campylobacter
      • Norovirus
      • Salmonella
      • Shigella
      • Giardia lamblia
      • Cryptosporidium parvum
      • Bacterial pathogens
      • Parasites
      • Viruses
  6. Murine norovirus virulence factor 1 (VF1) protein contributes to viral fitness during persistent infection

    • Microbiology
    • Murine norovirus (MNV) is widely used as a model for studying norovirus biology. While MNV isolates vary in their pathogenesis, infection of immunocompetent mice mostly results in persistent infection. The ability of a virus to establish a persistent infection is dependent on its ability to subvert or avoid the host immune response. Previously, we described the identification and characterization of virulence factor 1 (VF1) in MNV, and demonstrated its role as an innate immune antagonist.

      • Norovirus
      • Viruses
  7. High prevalence of tryptophan-truncated S quasispecies in treatment-naïve chronic hepatitis B patients

    • Microbiology
    • Hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) encoded by the S gene is highly expressed during the replication cycle of hepatitis B virus (HBV). However, the frequent usage of tryptophan in HBsAg, which leads to a high cost of biosynthesis, is inconsistent with the high expression level of this protein. Tryptophan-truncated mutation of HBsAg, that is, a tryptophan to stop codon mutation resulting in truncated HBsAg, might help to maintain its high expression with lower biosynthetic cost.

      • Viruses
      • Hepatitis
  8. Double mutations in the H9N2 avian influenza virus PB2 gene act cooperatively to increase viral host adaptation and replication for human infections

    • Microbiology
    • Avian H9N2 influenza viruses in East Asia are genetically diversified and multiple genotypes (A-W) have been established in poultry. Genotype S strains are currently the most prevalent strains, have caused many human infections and pose a public health threat. In this study, human adaptation mutations in the PB2 polymerase in genotype S strains were identified by database screening.

      • Viruses