Dr. Danyluk’s current research and extension interests include microbial food safety and quality, emphasizing the microbiology of fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts and juices.  Her primary research focuses on bacterial pathogens in produce, including production, packing and processing environments, its movement and mitigation within these environments, and the subsequent implications for public health.  Michelle’s extension program includes teaching programs related to FSMA, HACCP, GAPs and other specialized food safety programs.  Michelle was elected a member of the International Commission on Microbiological Specifications for Food (ICMSF) in 2016 and to the IAFP Executive Board in 2019.She maintains an active lab of graduate students working towards degrees at both the Ph.D. and M.S. levels.

Dr. Danyluk’s current research interests include microbial food safety and quality, emphasizing the microbiology of fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, and fruit juices. Her primary research focuses on contamination routes, cross contamination and mitigation strategies for Salmonella in produce products.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

1. Vazquez, K.M., R. Munoz-Carpena, M.D. Danyluk, and A.H. Havelaar. 2021.  Parsimonious mechanistic modeling of bacterial runoff to inform food safety management of agricultural water quality.  Applied and Environmental Microbiology.  87: e00596-21  https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.00596-21
2. Donaghy, J.A., M.D. Danyluk, T. Ross, B. Krishna, and J. Farber.  2021.  Big Data Impacting Dynamic Food Safety Risk Management in the Food Chain.  Frontiers in Microbiology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.668196
3. Thapa, N., M.D. Danyluk, K.M Gerberich, E.G. Johnson, and M.M. Dewdney.  2021.  Assessment of the effect of thermotherapy on Candidatus Liberbacter asiaticuus viability in woody tissue of citrus via graft-based assay and RNA-assay.  Phytopathology.  DOI: 10.1094/PHYTO-04-20-0152-R
4. Sidhu, R.K., N.D. Cavallaro, C.C. Pola, M.D. Danyluk, E.S. McLamore, and C.L. Gomes.  2020.  Planar Interdigitated Aptasensor for Flow-Through Detection of Listeria spp. In Hydroponic Lettuce Growth Media.  Sensors.  20(20): 5773 doi: 10.3390/s20205773
5. Topalcengiz, Z., S. Jeamsripong, P.M. Spanninger, A.K. Persad, F. Wang, R.L. Buchanan, J. LeJeune, K.E. Kniel, M.T. Jay-Russell, and M.D. Danyluk.  2020.  The Survival of Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in Different Wild Animal Feces that may Potentially Contaminate Produce.  Journal of Food Protection. 83:1420-1429.
6. Topalcengiz, Z., P.M. Spanninger, S. Jeamsripong, A.K. Persad, R.L. Buchanan, J. LeJeune, K.E. Kniel, M.T. Jay-Russell, and M.D. Danyluk.  2020. The Survival of Salmonella spp. in Different Wild Animal Feces that may Potentially Contaminate Produce.  Journal of Food Protection  83:651-660
7. Todd-Searle, J., L.M. Friedrich, R.A. Oni, K. Shenge, J.T. LeJeune, S.A. Micallef, M.D. Danyluk, and D.W. Schaffner.  2020.  Quantification of Salmonella enterica transfer between tomatoes, soil, and plastic mulch.  International Journal of Food Microbiology.  316:108480
8. Holat, H., Z. Topalcengiz, and M.D. Danyluk. 2019. Prediction of Salmonella presence and absence in agricultural surface waters by artificial intelligence approaches. Journal of Food Safety. 2019;e12733. DOI: 10.1111/jfs.12733.
9. Topalcegniz, Z., R. McEgan, and M.D. Danyluk.  2019.  Fate of Salmonella spp. in Central Florida surface waters and evaluation of EPA worst case water as standard medium.  Journal of Food Protection.  82:916-925
10. Topalcengiz, Z. and M.D. Danyluk.  2019.  Fate of Generic and Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in Central Florida surface waters and evaluation of EPA worst case water as standard medium.  Food Research International. 120:322-329
11. Brar, P.K., and M.D. Danyluk.  2019.  Validation of Enterococcus faecium as a surrogate for Salmonella under different processing conditions for peanuts and pecans.  Food Microbiology. 80:9-17.
12. Narine, L.K., A. Harder, and M.D. Danyluk.  2019.  Floridian producers concerns about the Food Safety Modernization Act.  Food Protection Trends.  39:237-244.
13. Baker, C.A., J. De, B. Bertoldi, L. Dunn, T.K Chapin, M. Jay-Russell, M.D. Danyluk and K.R. Schneider. 2019. Prevalence and Concentration of stx+ E. coli and E. coli O157 in Bovine Manure from Florida Farms. PLOSOne.  14: e0217445
14. Danyluk, M.D., L.M. Friedrich, L.L. Dunn, J. Zhang, and M.A. Ritenour.  2019.  Reduction of Escherichia coli, as a surrogate for Salmonella spp., on the surface of grapefruit during various packingline processes.  Food Microbiology.  78:188-193.
15. McEgan, R., L.L. Dunn, and M.D. Danyluk.  2019.  Survival of Salmonella on lemon and lime slices and subsequent transfer to beverages.  Food Protection Trends.  39:154-161.
16. Bardsley, C.A., L.N. Truitt, R.C. Pfuntner, M.D. Danyluk, S.L. Rideout, and L.K. Strawn.  2019.  Survival and growth of Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella on whole and sliced cucumbers.  Journal of Food Protection.  82:301-309.

• Google Scholar

• Ph.D. University of California, Davis; Food Science (specialization Microbiology), 2006
• M.S. University of Georgia; Food Microbiology, 2002
• B.Sc. University of Alberta, Biological Sciences (specialization Microbiology), 2000

• University of Florida, Term Professorship Award, 2019
• University of Florida, Research Foundation Professorship Award, 2015
• University of Florida, Excellence Award for Assistant Professors, 2013
• University of Florida, IFAS Richard Jones Outstanding New Faculty Research Award, 2010
• International Association for Food Protection, John N Sofos Most-cited Journal for Food Protection Research Publication Award, Third Place, 2016
• International Association for Food Protection, President Recognition Award, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2019
• International Association for Food Protection, Larry Beuchat Young Research Award, 2010
• International Association for Food Protection, Developing Scientist Competition, Poster Finalist, 2006
• International Association for Food Protection, Developing Scientist Competition, Oral First Place, 2005
• Association of Food and Drug Officials, Presidents Award, 2021
• Florida Association for Food Protection, Special Recognition Award, 2016
• Florida Association for Food Protection, Laboratorian Award, 2014
• Florida Association for Food Protection, President's Award, 2013
• Florida Association for Food Protection, C.B. Shogren Memorial Award, 2012, 2013
• Florida Association for Food Protection, Best Affiliate Overall Meeting Award, 2012, 2013
• Florida State Horticultural Society, Best Paper in Natural Resources Section, 2012
• Florida State Horticultural Society, Best Paper in Handling and Processing Section, 2009, 2011

Dr. Danyluk’s extension program includes involvement teaching HACCP, GAPS and other specialized food safety, security or beverage processing programs and workshops to stakeholders of fruit juices, fresh fruits, vegetables and nuts.

Dr. Danyluk’s lab has over 2,000 square feet of well-equipped, modern laboratory space to conduct studies on food safety and processing.  It is located at the Citrus Research & Education Center (CREC) is one of the largest units in the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS).  Facilities in the unit has an extensive pilot plant, green house, screen house, and field sites, science library system, and numerous analytical instruments.  This centrally located facility has large meeting facilities capable of handling several hundred people located in the Ben Hill Griffin Citrus Hall.