In Memoriam: Todd Klaenhammer; Getting to know Jonathan Sogin

News about IFT members and events

Margaret Malochleb

Food Technology Magazine

Murayama joins Kemin

Kemin Industries announced the addition of IFT member Daiki Murayama to the technical team for Kemin Food Technologies - Americas. Murayama joins the business unit as associate scientist, with responsibility for investigating the fundamental mechanisms of ingredient action and supporting the integration of newly identified technologies.

In addition to identifying new ingredient blends, Murayama will use his findings to optimize new production conditions within Kemin’s line of food ingredients. He will also be responsible for leading the development of new emulsifiers and enzyme blends within the tortilla industry, to meet the growing demand for clean label alternatives.

Murayama earned a PhD in food science from the University of Wisconsin and a PhD in agriculture from Japan’s Iwate University. He received his master’s degree in agriculture and his bachelor’s degree in animal husbandry, both from Japan’s Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine.

Remembering Pete Mattson

Pete Mattson, founder of the Silicon Valley–based food and beverage innovation firm Mattson, died at the age of 82.

Since 1977, when his product development firm was first launched, Mattson used an outside-in approach to drive innovation with companies such as Kraft, Nestlé, and Starbucks. In addition, he served as a mentor to many food and beverage professionals and also helped startup companies, such as Jamba Juice and Popchips, get their business off the ground, using a path that combined strategy, concept, and product development.

During his long career, Mattson served as a director on multiple boards, including the University of California, Davis’s Food Science and Technology Leadership Board. A frequent guest lecturer, he taught a class on innovation and was honored by the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences as a Friend of the College in 2016.

Getting to know Jonathan Sogin

As the first recipient of the Dr. Elwood F. Caldwell Graduate Fellowship through Feeding Tomorrow, Jonathan Sogin feels a personal connection to the former head of the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Minnesota. A St. Paul native, Sogin used to bike to the soccer fields adjacent to the same halls Caldwell had once lectured in.

“I never questioned what the people inside were doing or the impact of their activities,” he says. “I never anticipated doing a PhD. But due to these chance circumstances, I feel personally connected to Dr. Caldwell’s legacy. I hope to emulate his ingenuity, devotion to academic development, and service to the community as a fellow and in the future.”

Created through a $1 million bequest, the Caldwell Graduate Fellowship was based on Caldwell’s belief that students in the science of food should be encouraged and fostered to pursue their own research. For Sogin, that means working to improve microbial food safety and quality, with the goal of reducing the prevalence of foodborne diseases and curbing food waste. “For my thesis, I research bacteriocins—natural antimicrobial peptides produced by bacteria that can kill some of the relevant bacterial perpetrators,” he says. A secondary goal “is to streamline natural products discovery and highlight ways in which modern biotechnology tools can be used in the food industry.”

In addition to his thesis research, Sogin conducts applied extension research and is developing a series of produce safety courses. “I really enjoy extension work, research, teaching, and outreach,” he says. “My research advisors from undergrad and Cornell both have extension appointments, so working with them has somewhat cemented my desire to work in such a role. That foreshadows working at a university, but recently I’ve met professionals who have similar roles in nonacademic capacities. In light of this, my candidate careers have recently expanded; [my career choice] really depends on what and where the job opportunities are.”

It’s no surprise that food and culinary pursuits have been interests of Sogin’s outside of his academic life. In fact, his first job was as a cook at a Neapolitan pizza restaurant. “I absolutely loved it and was set on doing culinary work,” he recalls. “But I was in a bind: I had been accepted to the University of Wisconsin–Madison as an engineering student. I panicked because culinary arts and restaurants were incompatible with university, but obviously I was completely wrong. After a 10-minute Google search, I learned food science was a field and immediately switched my major. I’ve never looked back, although my culinary interests have since been downgraded from a professional goal to an enjoyable pastime.”

In Memoriam

Todd Klaenhammer, a leading figure in the field of genetics of lactic acid bacteria, died at the age of 69. An IFT Fellow and the recipient of the Nicolas Appert, Samuel Cate Prescott, and the Research and Development Awards from IFT, he was celebrated for his innovative work in the area of food microbiology.

Klaenhammer began his career in 1978 at the age of 26, joining North Carolina State University as an assistant professor and later being named distinguished university professor and William Neal Reynolds professor. During his tenure, he received numerous research and teaching awards, including the O. Max Gardner award, presented by the university to a member of the faculty “who has made the greatest contribution to the welfare of the human race.”

Internationally recognized for his work in phage resistance, in bacteriocin research, and in basic lactic acid bacterial genetics, Klaenhammer pioneered the industrial application of molecular genetics to dairy lactic acid bacteria by designing novel genetic strategies to provide bacteriophage resistance to bacteria used as dairy starter cultures; discovering and characterizing bacteriocins produced by lactic acid bacteria; and employing genetic and functional genomic approaches to investigate probiotic Lactobacillus cultures.

In recognition of his body of work, Klaenhammer was elected in 2001 to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and selected in 2006 as a Sigma Xi Distin-guished Lecturer, where he spoke on the topic of “Eat Bacteria–Get Cultured: New Horizons in Bioprocessing and Health.”