Kovac Lab
Our research at Penn State is focused on precision food safety.
We are integrating (meta)genomic and phenotypic methods to better understand how microbial genetic background and environmental factors influence epidemiology, pathogenic potential and antimicrobial resistance of foodborne pathogens.
News
October 18, 2026
Yara Presented Research at ASM BIG 2026
Yara presented a poster at the 2026 ASM Bioinformatics, Genomics and Big Data Conference (ASM BIG), held October 11-14 in Washington, DC.
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September 30, 2026
Mackenna Awarded the 2026 Food Industry Group Graduate Student Leadership Award
Mackenna Yount was awarded the 2026 Food Industry Group Graduate Student Leadership award. Her involvement in the food science department, with professional and university organizations, and her academic achievements are recognized with this award. She received the award at the 2026 Food Science Tailgate in September.
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September 10, 2026
Tyler Presented his Research in Ljubljana, Slovenia at FoodMicro26
Tyler Chandross-Cohen presented his research on Bacillus cereus from human clinical samples at the 31st International ICFMH Conference FOODMicro2026 in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
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August 7, 2026
Auja Was Awarded an IAFP Student Travel Award
Auja attended the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) Annual Meeting with the support of an IAFP Student Travel Award.
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