Biography
Dr. Michael Leonidas Chikindas is a Professor in Microbiology, leading the Health Promoting Naturals Laboratory. He co-authored several patents, more than a hundred papers and six book chapters. Dr. Chikindas developed and implemented a number of courses at Rutgers, including Food Microbiology (lectures and lab courses) and Beneficial Microbes in Food and Life. He is co-teaching the graduate-level course Food Biology Fundamentals. Dr. Chikindas is an applied molecular microbiologist studying natural-derived antimicrobials and probiotics for use in human health, personal care, and agricultural applications. His external funding stems from private industries/organizations such as Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and governmental agencies such as NIH, USDA, NSF, etc. He serves on Editorial Boards of Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Letters in Applied Microbiology, Annals of Microbiology, and Beneficial Microbes (Section Editor). Dr. Chikindas was a founder of Probiotics and Antimicrobial Proteins, the Springer Nature journal, and served as its Editor-in-Chief for twelve consecutive years. He served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Applied Microbiology (also as the journal's Senior Editor) for twenty five years. He is a member of the American Society for Microbiology and the Society for Applied Microbiology (UK).
