Robert HutkinsDr. Robert W. Hutkins
Professor

Education:
M.S. Food Science and Nutrition, University of Missouri
Ph.D. Food Science and Nutrition, University of Minnesota
Post Doc. Microbiology, Boston University School of Medicine

Contact Information:
338 Food Industry Complex
Lincoln, NE 68583-0919
email: rhutkins1@unl.edu

For more information, please click here.

Contemporary Issues in Food Science website and blog, click here.

Teaching and/or Extension Activities:
FDST 280, FDST 405/805, FDST 455/855, FDST 429/829, FDST 908

Research Areas:
The Hutkins Lab studies bacteria important in fermented foods and in human health. We are particularly interested in understanding the molecular basis for metabolism of prebiotic sugars by lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria (so-called probiotic bacteria). How these prebiotics shift the intestinal microbiota in humans and animals is also being studied. We are also interested in the anti-adhesive properties of oligosaccharides and the molecular mechanisms involved in pathogen binding to the surface of host cells.

Five Selected Publications:

  • Goh, Y.J., C. Zhang, A.K. Benson, V. Schlegel, J.-H. Lee, and R.W. Hutkins. 2006. Identification of a putative operon involved in fructooligosaccharide utilization by Lactobacillus paracasei. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 72:7518-7530.
  • Makarova, K., A. Slesarev, Y. Wolf, A. Sorokin, B. Mirkin, E. Koonin, A. Pavlov, N. Pavlova, V. Karamychev, N. Polouchine, V. Shakhova, I. Grigoriev, Y. Lou, D. Rohksar, S. Lucas, K. Huang, D. M. Goodstein, T. Hawkins, V. Plengvidhya, D. Welker, J. Hughes, Y. Goh, A. Benson, K. Baldwin, J.-H. Lee, I. Díaz-Muniz, B. Dosti, V. Smeianov, W. Wechter, R. Barabote, G. Lorca, E. Altermann, R. Barrangou, B. Ganesan, Y. Xie, H. Rawsthorne, D. Tamir, C. Parker, F. Breidt, J. Broadbent, R. Hutkins, D. O. Sullivan, J. Steele, G. Unlu, M. Saier, T. Klaenhammer, P. Richardson, S. Kozyavkin, B. Weimer, and D. A. Mills. 2006. Comparative genomics of the lactic acid bacteria. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 103:15611-15616.
  • Shoaf, K., G.L. Mulvey, G.D. Armstrong, and R.W. Hutkins. 2006. Prebiotic galactooligosaccharides reduce adherence of Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli to tissue culture cells. Infect. Immun. 74:6920-6928.
  • Goh, Y.J., J.-H. Lee, and R.W. Hutkins. 2007. Functional analysis of the fructooligosaccharide utilization operon in Lactobacillus paracasei 1195. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 73:5716-5724.
  • Shoaf-Sweeney, K.D., and R.W. Hutkins. 2009. Adherence, anti-adherence, and oligosaccharides: preventing pathogens from sticking to the host. Adv. Food Nutr. Res. 55:101-161.