The National Academy of Inventors named Michael Doyle, Regents Professor of Food Microbiology and director of UGA’s Center for Food Safety, to its 2013 class of NAI Fellows.
Doyle joins 143 innovators to receive NAI Fellow status, representing 94 research universities, governmental and nonprofit research institutions. Collectively, the new fellows hold more than 5,600 U.S. patents.
Election to NAI Fellow status is a professional distinction accorded to academic inventors who have demonstrated a highly prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development and the welfare of society.
As director of the Center for Food Safety, Doyle works closely with the food industry, government agencies and consumer groups on issues related to the microbiological safety of foods.
Doyle is the lead inventor of multiple technologies in the area of food safety. His patented inventions include the use of probiotic bacteria to control E. coli infection in cattle, addressing listeria contamination of food processing facilities, and salmonella and Campylobacter outbreaks in poultry and poultry products.
Recently, Doyle’s research group, which includes Tong Zhao, developed a food-wash technology that significantly reduces the risk of contamination by harmful microbes. This technology is the culmination of more than a decade of research at UGA.
