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    Wei Zhang, Ph.D.

    Wei Zhang , Ph.D.

    Associate Professor of Biology
    Associate Professor of Food Microbiology

    Office: Room 233, Institute for Food Safety and Health
    Phone: 708.563.2980
    Fax: 708.563.1873
    Email: zhangw@iit.edu
    Web: click here

    Expertise

    • Food safety, molecular microbiology, bacterial genomics, stress response and pathogenesis

    Education

    • Ph.D. Penn State University, University Park (2004)

    Curriculum Vitae

    Research & Major Accomplishments

    My research focuses on using cutting-edge molecular biology and genomic approaches to study the ecology, stress response, and pathogenesis of foodborne bacterial pathogens that post major threats to food safety and public health. The long-term goal of our research is to better understand the genetic and physiological basis by which bacterial pathogens colonize environmental niches, survive and grow in foods, and infect animal and human hosts. My labs are located at the Institute for Food Safety and Health (formerly known as the National Center for Food Safety and Technology) which is jointly sponsored by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Illinois Institute of Technology. Prospective students seeking M.S. or Ph.D. degrees or postdoctoral training are encouraged to contact me through email to discuss specific interests.

    Current Projects

    • Pathogenesis of foodborne bacterial pathogens
    • Bacterial stress physiology
    • Comparative genomics
    • Bacterial epidemiology in the food system
    • Rapid detection of bacterial pathogens and toxins in foods

    Awards/Honors

    Patents

    Books

    • Wei Zhang*, Joseph Wade, Edward Dudley. 2011. Chapter 10. Genomic and transcriptomic analysis of foodborne bacterial pathogens. In: Martin Wiedmann, Wei Zhang (eds.), Genomics of Foodborne Bacterial Pathogens. In: Food Microbiology and Food Safety book series. Springer, New York, USA. 640 p. 48 illus., 31 in color., ISBN 978-4419-7685-7, Hardcover. http://www.springer.com/food+science/book/978-1-4419-7685-7
    • Bala Swaminathan*, Didier Cabanes, Wei Zhang, Pascale Cossart. 2007. Chapter 21: Listeria monocytogenes. p. 457-491. In: Doyle MP, Beuchat LR, Montville TJ, (eds.), Food Microbiology: Fundamentals and Frontiers, 3rd ed. ASM Press, Washington DC, USA http://estore.asm.org/viewitemdetails.asp?itemid=674

    Selected Publications

    Kaiping Deng, Siyun Wang, Xiaoqian Rui, Wei Zhang, Mary Lou Tortorello*. 2011. Functional analysis of ycfR and ycfQ in Escherichia coli O157:H7 associated with fresh produce outbreaks. Applied and Environmental Microbiology [Epub ahead of print] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21498759

    Pina M. Fratamico*, Siyun Wang, Xianghe Yan, Wei Zhang, Yuesheng Li. 2010. Differential gene expression of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in ground beef extract compared to tryptic soy broth. Journal of Food Science. 76:M79-M87. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1750-3841.2010.01952.x/pdf

    Xiangyu Deng, Adam M. Phillippy, Zengxin Li, Steven L. Salzberg, Wei Zhang*. 2010. Probing the pan-genome of Listeria monocytogenes: new insights into intraspecific niche expansion and genomic diversification. BMC Genomics 11:500 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20846431

    Siyun Wang, Adam M. Phillippy, Kaiping Deng, Xiaoqian Rui, Mary Lou Tortorello, Wei Zhang*. 2010. Transcriptomic responses of Salmonella enterica Enteritidis and Typhimurium to chlorine-based oxidative stress. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 76:5013-5024. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20562293

    Siyun Wang, Kaiping Deng, Sam Zaremba, Xiangyu Deng, Chiahui Lin, Qian Wang, Mary Lou Tortorello, Wei Zhang*. 2009. Transcriptomic response of Escherichia coli O157:H7 to oxidative stress. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 75: 6110-6123. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19666735

    Adam M. Phillippy*, Xiangyu Deng, Wei Zhang, Steven L. Salzberg. 2009. Efficient oligonucleotide probe selection for pan genomic tiling arrays. BMC Bioinformatics 10:293. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19758451

    Shannon D. Manning, Alifiya S. Motiwala, A. Cody Springman, Weihong Qi, David W. Lacher, Lindsey M. Ouellette, Janice M. Mladonicky, Patricia Somsel, James T. Rudrik, Stephen E. Dietrich, Wei Zhang, Bala Swaminathan, David Alland, Thomas S. Whittam*. 2008. Variation in virulence among clades of Escherichia coli O157:H7 associated with disease outbreaks. Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. 105:4868-4873 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18332430

    Xinyi He, Hongyu Ou, Yu Qing, Xiufen Zhou, Jun Wu, Jingdan Liang, Wei Zhang, Kumar Rajakumar, Zixin Deng*. 2007. Analysis of a genomic island housing dnd gene clusters which encodes S modification system in Streptomyces lividans. Molecular Microbiology 65:1034-1048. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17640271

    Hui Cai, Beatriz T. Rodríguez, Wei Zhang, Jeff R. Broadbent and James L. Steele*. 2007. Genotypic and phenotypic characterization of Lactobacillus casei strains from different ecological niches suggests frequent recombination and niche specificity. Microbiology 153:2655-2665. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17660430

    Yi Chen, Wei Zhang, Stephen J. Knabel*. 2007. Multi-virulence-locus sequence typing identifies single nucleotide polymorphisms which differentiate epidemic clones and outbreak strains of Listeria monocytogenes. Journal of Clinical Microbiology 45: 835-846. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17215339

    Wei Zhang*, Weihong Qi, Thomas J. Albert, Alifiya S. Motiwala, David Alland, Eija K. Hyytia-Trees, Efrain M. Ribot, Patricia I. Fields, Thomas S. Whittam and Bala Swaminathan. 2006. Probing genomic diversity and evolution of Escherichia coli O157 by single-nucleotide polymorphisms. Genome Research 16:757-767. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16606700

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