Keywords

  • food microbiology
  • food safety
  • food science
  • genomics
  • infectious disease
  • infectious diseases
  • listeria monocytogenes
  • microbiology
  • molecular microbiology
  • salmonella
  • zoonotic diseases

Wiedmann, Martin

Associate Professor
The overall goal of Martin?s academic program is to develop and communicate the scientific knowledge needed to prevent and control foodborne and zoonotic diseases caused by bacteria. Current work in my laboratory focuses on microorganisms that cause a considerable number of foodborne deaths annually in the US, including Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella. Listeria monocytogenes causes disease in more than 20 animal species as well as a severe, but rare human foodborne disease with about 500 human deaths annually in the US alone. Salmonella also causes disease in many animals as well as a common foodborne disease in humans with approximately 1.4 million cases and 550 deaths annually in the US. With his training as a both a veterinarian and food scientist, Martin?s programs focus on a comprehensive and interdisciplinary farm-to-table approach to food safety. Martin?s academic programs thus involves the application of a variety of disciplines (including microbiology and microbial genetics, population genetics, molecular biology, genomics, evolution and modelling) as well as collaborators from many different discipline (e.g., economics, computer science, veterinary medicine, epidemiology and statistics) and from many different institutions (other universities, state health and agriculture departments, federal agencies such as CDC and USDA, as well as trade organizations).

research

research and scholarship focus

The specific objective of my research program is to develop a better understanding of the pathogenesis, ecology, evolution, and transmission of bacterial foodborne and zoonotic diseases. The pathogenesis of foodborne and zoonotic diseases can involve complex interactions between a bacterial pathogen, a variety of environments and one or multiple host species. The ability of bacterial cells to survive and compete in a variety of environments plays a key role in the pathogenesis and transmission of many foodborne diseases. In addition, selective pressures not associated with mammalian hosts may contribute significantly to the emergence and evolution of virulence characteristics related to the ability of bacteria to effectively infect mammalian hosts. Foodborne zoonotic pathogens provide ideal model systems for studying the ecology of infectious diseases, including adaptation of clonal groups to specific hosts and non-host environments as well as virulence gene expression and maintenance of virulence characteristics under widely varying conditions, including those not directly associated with a host. Current work in my laboratory focuses on two model organisms, Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella.

research areas

affiliations

head of

faculty appointment in

member of graduate field

other Cornell affiliations

administrative responsibilities

Director of Graduate Studies

teaching

teaching focus

My teaching program focuses on helping students to not only better understand subject areas, but more importantly to help them acquire and improve their critical thinking and life-long learning skills. My class room teaching thus tries to increasingly include case-based learning strategies. I also have a strong commitment to providing undergraduate research opportunities, since I see undergraduate research as an outstanding way to teach critical thinking and independent learning skills. The specific subject matter objective of my teaching program focuses on communicating (i) the knowledge needed to assure a safe food supply from farm-to-table and (ii) the general role of microorganisms in food production and processing. Courses taught include FD SCI 351 (Milk Quality), FD SCI 406 (Food and Dairy Fermentations), FD SCI 607 (Advanced Food Microbiology), FD SCI 695 (Current Readings in Food Science (FOOD 695), VTMED 741 (Microbial safety of animal-based foods).

teaches

service

outreach focus

Extension and outreach efforts focus on working with industry partners (producers and farmers, food processors, retailers), trade organizations (e.g., American Meat Institute, Food Marketing Institute, Food Products Association, National Fisheries Institute), as well as federal and state agencies to design and conduct applied field research studies as well as to conduct workshops and training programs aimed at controlling foodborne pathogen transmission. Work conducted to date and in progress includes field studies on L. monocytogenes transmission in dairy, meat, and seafood processing plants, retail operations, and on farms as well as studies on Salmonella transmission on farms. Extensive workshop series on Listeria control in processing plants are also being conducted; current efforts are increasingly focusing on developing and delivering training programs for Listeria control at the retail level.

current professional activities

  • Editorial Board of the American Journal of Veterinary research (1999-2001)
  • Editorial Board of the Journal of Food Protection ( present )
  • Editorial Board of Applied and Environmental Microbiology ( present )
  • Member of the Graduate Fields of Food Science, Microbiology, and Comparative Biomedical Sciences, Cornell

background

educational background

  • Veterinary Degree (DVM equivalent), University of Munich, Germany, 1992
  • Dr. Med. Vet. (Ph.D. equivalent), University of Munich, Germany, 1994
  • Ph.D., Food Science, Cornell University, 1997

professional background

  • Cornell faculty, since 1999
  • Co-coordinator, Cornell Food and Water Safety Program
  • Participates in the Infection and Pathobiology Program and in the Cornell Genomics Initiative
  • Director of the Cornell Institute of Food Science Summer Scholar Program, Cornell
  • Director of the Cornell Laboratory of Molecular Typing
Keywords: food microbiology, food safety, food science, genomics, infectious disease, infectious diseases, listeria monocytogenes, microbiology, molecular microbiology, salmonella, zoonotic diseases