Kenneth W.

Widmer

Contact Information IERC-GIST 261 Cheomdan-gwagiro, Buk-gu Gwangju 500-712 Republic of Korea Tel:+82-62-715-3365 Fax:+82-62-715-3394 Email: kwidmer@gist.ac.kr

Education May 2007

2000

1992

Ph.D. Food Science and Technology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX Dissertation: Influence of Autoinducer 2 (AI-2) and AI-2-like inhibitors generated from processed poultry on virulence and growth of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. M.S. Biology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM Thesis: Utilization of artificial neural networks for the presumptive identification of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts. B.S. Microbiology, University of Texas-El Paso, El Paso, TX

Professional Appointments 3/2010Research Assistant Professor, International Environmental Research Center, Gwangju present Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju, Republic of Korea 2007-2/2010 Postdoctoral Fellow, International Environmental Research Center, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju, Republic of Korea 20022007 Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Poultry Science, Nutrition, and Food Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 20002002 Oak Ridge Institute Fellow, Technical Support Center, Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water, USEPA, Cincinnati, OH 19982000 Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of Biology, New Mexico State University Las Cruses, NM 1993-1998 Research Technician, Texas A&M University Research Center, El Paso, TX Research Interests Improvement of methods for detection of pathogens in environmental sources utilizing molecular techniques. Studying the fate and transport of microbial pathogens in the environment. Understanding the role of agriculture as a vector for human diseases. Also microbial source tracking and its implications on food safety. Peer Reviewed Publications Widmer, K., P. Jesudhasan, and S.Pillai, 2011, Fatty Acid Modulation of Autoinducer (AI-2) Influenced Growth and Macrophage Invasion by Salmonella Typhimurium. Foodborne Pathog. Dis. (in press) Unno, T., D. Han, J. Jang, K. Widmer, G. Ko, M. Sadowsky and H. Hur. 2011. Genotypic and Phenotypic Trends in Antibiotic Resistant Pathogenic Escherichia coli Isolated from Humans and Farm Animals in South Korea. Microbes Environ. 26(3):198-204

Jesudhasan, P., M. Cepeda, K. Widmer, S. Dowd, K. Soni, M. Hume, J. Zhu, and S. Pillai. 2010. Transcriptome analysis of genes controlled by luxS/AI-2 in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. Foodborne Pathog. Dis. 7: 399-410 Soni, K.A., P. Jesudhasan, M. Cepeda, K. Widmer, G.K. Jayaprakasha, B.S. Patil, M.E. Hume, and S.D. Pillai. 2008. Identification of ground beef-derived fatty acid inhibitors of autoinducer-2-based cell signaling. J. Food. Prot. 71:134-138 Widmer, K.W., K. Soni, M.E. Hume, R.C. Beier, P. Jesudhasan, and S.D. Pillai. 2007. Identification of poultry meat-derived fatty acids functioning as quorum sensing signal inhibitors to autoinducer-2 (AI-2). J. Food Sci. 72:M363-368 Widmer, K.W., P.R. Jesudhasan, S.E. Dowd, and S.D. Pillai. 2007. Differential expression of virulence-related genes in a Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium luxS mutant in response to autoinducer AI-2 and poultry meat-derived AI-2 inhibitor. Foodborne Pathog. Dis. 4: 5-15 Widmer, K.W., S. Deepak, and S.D. Pillai. 2005. Use of artificial neural networks to accurately identify Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia cysts images. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71:80-84 Widmer, K.W. 2003. Development of artificial neural networks (ANN) capable of identifying Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts stained with 4, 6 diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI). J. Rap. Meth. Auto. Microbiol. 11:97-110 Widmer, K.W., K.H. Oshima, and S.D. Pillai. 2002. Identification of C. parvum oocysts using an artificial neural network approach. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 68:1115-1121 Pillai, S.D., K.W. Widmer, L.J. Ivey, K.C. Coker, E. Newman, S. Lingsweiler, D. Baca, M. Kelley, D.S. Davis, N.J. Silvy and L.G. Adams. 2000. Failure to identify non-bovine reservoirs of Mycobacterium bovis in a region with a history of infected dairy-cattle herds. Prev. Vet. Med. 43:53-62 Pillai, S.D., K.W. Widmer, K.G. Maciorowski, and S.C. Ricke. 1997. Antibiotic resistance profiles of Escherichia coli isolated from rural and urban environments. J. Env. Sci. Health 32: 1665-1675 Dowd, S.E., K.W. Widmer, and S.D. Pillai. 1997. Thermotolerant clostridia as an airborne pathogen indicator during land application of biosolids. J. Env. Quality. 26: 194-199 Pillai, S.D., K.W. Widmer, S.E. Dowd, and S.C. Ricke. 1996. Occurrence of airborne bacteria and pathogen indicators during land application of sewage sludge. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 62: 296-299. Conferences and Proceedings 2011 Widmer, K.W. and D. Fapyane. Antimicrobial resistance in Escherichia coli isolates

from urban surface waters in Southeast Asia. Annual Meeting of the Korean Society for Applied Biological Chemisty, Jeju, Korea, Oct.
2006 Widmer, K.W., P. Jesudhasan, S.E. Dowd, and S.D. Pillai. Gene expression in Salmonella enterica Serotype Typhimurium LuxS mutant in response to quorum sensing signals and a poultry meatderived quorum sensing inhibitor using microarray-based studies. Annual general meeting, Am. Soc. for Microbiol., Orlando, FL, May

2004 Widmer, K.W., Deepak, S., S.D. Pillai. Detection of Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia cysts using artificial neural networks. Annual general meeting, Am. Soc. for Microbiol., New Orleans, LA, May 2002 Widmer, K.W. Utilization of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) for the identification of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts stained with 4, 6 diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI). Annual general meeting, Am. Soc. for Microbiol. Salt Lake City, UT, May 2000 Widmer, K.W., K. Oshima, R. Hartley and S.D. Pillai. Utilization of artificial neural networks for the presumptive identification of Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts. Annual general meeting, Am. Soc. for Microbiol. Los Angeles, CA, May 1996 Widmer, K.W., S.D. Pillai. Evaluation of protocols for reliable extraction of total RNA from soils. Ann. Meetings. Soil. Sci. Soc. Am. Indianapolis, Nov. 1995 Widmer, K.W., S.C. Ricke and S.D. Pillai. Airborne microbial populations during the land application of municipal sewage sludge. Ann. Meeting. Am. Soc. for Microbiol. Washington, D.C., May