Congratulations to Logan Ott for his recent award of a United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA) Predoctoral Fellowship! Logan is studying host-microbe interactions in Dr Mellata's lab.

"Funding from the fellowship will allow Ott to further research he has been conducting in food science and human nutrition associate professor Melha Mellata’s laboratory since joining her team in the summer of 2018.

Ott’s work focuses on microbial-host interactions. He studies how disease-causing microbes (bacteria) interact differently in the guts of various hosts, such as chickens and mice. Antimicrobial resistance is one of the challenges he seeks to overcome.

“If we can identify how to prevent new bacteria from growing, we can prevent new strains from developing,” Ott said.

"I am very proud that Logan received this highly competitive fellowship; this indicates we can develop very strong students, and our research is very competitive,” Mellata said. “With this funding, Logan will develop a unique natural product to eliminate antimicrobial resistance in bacteria. It will be tested in chickens, a major food-producing animal in Iowa and the United States. Both the poultry industry and human health care will benefit from this research.” " -Read the full news release here.