About Pratik Banerjee

Dr. Banerjee received his PhD in Food Science from Purdue University working in the area of food safety focusing on rapid detection of pathogens and toxins in food and drinking water. Before joining the University of Memphis, Dr. Banerjee worked as a tenure track faculty member in the Department of Food and Animal Sciences at Alabama A&M University, Huntsville, Alabama, USA. He joined AAMU from LacPro Industries, LLC at Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA where he worked as the Principal Scientist, leading the R & D section of the company. His environmental health research and teaching program at the University of Memphis aims to develop an interdisciplinary approach to solve problems related to foodborne illnesses and outbreaks in humans, food safety, pathogenesis, and environmental rapid diagnostics method development. As the principal investigator or as a collaborator, Dr. Banerjee has secured funding from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and from State and local agencies.

Education

• PhD, Food Science, Center for Food Safety Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA.
• MTech, Biotechnology, Jadavpur University, Kolkata (Calcutta), India.
• BTech, Dairy Technology, West Bengal University of Animal & Fishery Sciences, Kolkata (Calcutta), India.

Research Interests

• Food safety and microbiology, biosensor based rapid detection of pathogens, toxins, and contaminants from food and environmental (water, soil, air) samples
• Food safety and disparities in neighborhood food access in metropolitan settings
• Food safety regulations and policies
• Molecular, immunological and cell biological aspects of host-microbes and host-environmental hazard interactions
• Attribution of environmental sources in the dissemination of pathogens causing human health risks

Selected Publications

1. Banerjee P, Sulaiman IM, Schneider G, Ray U, Jagadeesan B. Novel Microbial Diagnostic Methods for Clinical, Environmental, and Food Samples. BioMed Research International. 2017; (in press)
2. Miranda N, Banerjee P, Simpson S, Kerdahi K. Sulaiman IM. Molecular surveillance of Cronobacter spp. isolated from a wide varieties of foods from 44 different countries by sequence typing of 16S rRNA, rpoB and O-antigen genes. Foods. 2017; 6(5), 35:E36. doi: 10.3390/foods6050036.
3. Mukherjee N, Patra C, Dowd SE, Chauhan BV, Bartelli D, Banerjee P. Microbial Diversity of Source and Point-of-Use Water in Rural Haiti – A Pyrosequencing-Based Metagenomic Survey. PLoS ONE. 2016; 11(12):e0167353. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0167353.
4. Kaur H, Nyochembeng LM., Mentreddy SR, Banerjee P, Cebert E. Assessment of antimicrobial activity of Lentinula edodes against Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria. Crop Protection. 2016; 89: 284-288. doi: 10.1016/j.cropro.2016.08.001.
5. Mukherjee N, Sulaiman IM, Banerjee P. Characterization of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus Isolates from Fitness Centers in Memphis Metropolitan Area, USA. American Journal of Infection Control. 2016; 44(12): 1681-1683. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2016.06.031.
6. Kennedy NM, Mukherjee N, Banerjee P. Escherichia coli O157:H7 Cells Exposed to Lettuce Leaf Lysates in Refrigerated Conditions Exhibit Differential Expression of Selected Virulence and Adhesion-related Genes with Altered Mammalian Cell Adherence. Journal of Food Protection. 2016; 79(7):1259-1265. doi: 10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-15-504.
7. Montgomery NL GR, Banerjee P. Inactivation of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Listeria monocytogenes in biofilms by pulsed ultraviolet light. BMC Research Notes. 2015; 8:235. doi: 10.1186/s13104-015-1206-9.
8. Mukherjee N, Dowd SE, Wise A, Kedia S, Vohra V, Banerjee P. Diversity of bacterial communities of fitness center surfaces in a U.S. metropolitan area. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2014;11(12):12544–61. doi:10.3390/ijerph111212544
9. Najafi R, Mukherjee S, Hudson J, Sharma A, Banerjee P. Development of a rapid capture-cum-detection method for Escherichia coli O157 from apple juice comprising nano-immunomagnetic separation in tandem with surface enhanced Raman scattering. International Journal of Food Microbiology. 2014;189:89–97.doi:10.1016/j.ijfoodmicro.2014.07.036
10. Banerjee P, Kintzios S, Prabhakarpandian B. Biotoxin detection using cell-based sensors. Toxins (Basel). 2013;5(12):2366–83. doi:10.3390/toxins5122366
11. Banerjee P, Bhunia AK. Cell-based biosensor for rapid screening of pathogens and toxins. Biosensors and Bioelectronics. 2010;26(1):99–106. doi:10.1016/j.bios.2010.05.020
12. Banerjee P, Bhunia AK. Mammalian cell-based biosensors for pathogens and toxins. Trends in Biotechnology. 2009;27(3):179–188. doi:10.1016/j.tibtech.2008.11.006