Curriculum Vitae
SOPHIA KATHARIOU
Department of Food Science and Microbiology; Program in Genomic
Sciences
Campus Box 7624, Raleigh, NC 27695-7624
Tel.
919 513-2075; Fax
919 513-0014;
Email sophia_kathariou@ncsu.edu
Education
B.A. Biology (1975) Austin College, Sherman, Texas
Ph.D. Genetics (1981) University of California, Berkeley
Professional Experience
09/01/00 to present Associate Professor, Department of Food Science, Graduate
Program in Genomic Sciences, and Department of Microbiology, North
Carolina State University, Raleigh, N. Carolina
1990-2000
Associate Professor (tenured), Department of Microbiology, University
of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii
1997-1998
Sabbatical Faculty, Center for Microbial Ecology, Michigan State
University, E. Lansing, Michigan
1987-1990
Visiting Scientist, Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta,
Georgia, Meningitis and Special Pathogens Branch
1988-1989
Temporary faculty, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, Department of
Microbiology and Immunology
1984-1987
Research Associate, University of Würzburg, Germany, Department of
Microbiology & Genetics
1981-1984
Postdoctoral research, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, Department
of Microbiology
Courses taught:
Food Safety and Public Health (FSA 540, NC State, 2000-present); Bacterial Genetics;
Microbiology (Univ. of Hawaii, 1990-1999).
Honors /Awards: Editor, Applied & Environmental Microbiology (2002 to present);
Editorial Board, Applied & Environmental Microbiology (1997-2002), Journal of Food
Protection (1997-present); FAO/WHO roster of experts for the joint FAO/WHO
activities on risk assessment of microbiological hazards in foods.
Areas of Research Interest
Bacterial Genetics and Genomics.
Virulence, Ecology, Molecular Epidemiology and Genetics of Bacterial Foodborne
Pathogens.
Evolution and Functional Genomics of Distinct Lineages of Listeria and Campylobacter.
Acquisition and dissemination of Antibiotic Resistance Among Foodborne Pathogens of
Zoonotic Origin
Bacterial Stress Responses and Low Temperature Adaptations
Long Term Bacterial Preservation at Subzero Temperatures
Scientific Society Membership
American Society for Microbiology (ASM)
Institute for Food Technology (IFT)
International Association for Food Protection (IAFP)
IAFP Committee on Control of Foodborne Illness
IAFP Meat and Poultry Safety and Quality Professional Development Group
Panel Service
NSF (Microbial Observatories/Microbial Interactions Processes), November 2004,
February 2006
USDA-CSREES Epidemiological Approaches to Food Safety, June 2004
Ministry of Education, Greece (Grants for Graduate and Undergraduate Curricula in
Food Science and Molecular Biosciences), July 2003
NSF (Life in Extreme Environments) June 2000
USDA CSREES (Food Safety), May 96, and May 97
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS (1997 to present)
S. Kathariou, L. Graves, C. Buchrieser, P. Glaser, R. M. Siletzky, and B.
Swaminathan. Involvement of closely related strains of a new clonal group of Listeria
monocytogenes in the 1998-99 and 2002 multistate outbreaks of foodborne listeriosis in
the
United
States.
Under
Review,
Foodborne
Pathogens
Dis.
Pan, F. Breidt, Jr. and S. Kathariou. Resistance of Listeria monocytogenes in biofilms
to sanitizing agents and starvation in a simulated food processing environment. Under
review, J. Food Prot.
Kim, J.-S., D. K. Carver, and S. Kathariou. 2006. Natural transformation-mediated
transfer of erythromycin resistance in Campylobacter coli from turkeys and swine. Appl.
Environ. Microbiol. 72:1316-1321.
W. G. Miller, R. J. Meinersmann, M. D. Englen, S. Kathariou, I. V. Wesley, G.
Wang, L. Pittenger-Alley, R M. Siletzky, W. Muraoka, P. J. Fedorka-Cray, and R.
E. Mandrell. 2006. Identification of host-specific alleles by multilocus sequence typing
(MLST) of Campylobacter coli isolates from farm animals. Microbiol. 152:245-255.
Gharst, G., D. Hanson, and S. Kathariou. The impact of direct culture versus
selective enrichment on the isolation of thermophilic Campylobacter from feces of
mature cattle at harvest. J. Food Prot., In press
Vishnivetskaya, T., and S. Kathariou. 2005. Putative transposases conserved in
Exiguobacterium from ancient Siberian permafrost and from contemporary surface
habitats. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 71:6954-6962
Eifert, J.D., P. A. Curtis, M. C. Bazaco, R. J. Meinersmann, M. E. Berrang, S.
Kernodle, C. Stam, L.-A. Jaykus, and S. Kathariou.
2005.
Molecular
characterization of Listeria monocytogenes of the serotype 4b complex (4b, 4d, 4e) from
two turkey processing plants. Foodborne Pathog. Dis. 2:192-200.
Lee, B.C., N. Reimers, J. Barnes, C. D’lima, D. Carver, and S. Kathariou. 2005.
Strain persistence and fluctuation of multiple-antibiotic resistant Campylobacter coli
colonizing turkeys over successive production cycles. Foodborne Pathog. Dis. 2:103110.
Yildirim, S., W. Lin, A. D. Hitchins, L.-A. Jaykus, E. Altermann, T. R.
Klaenhammer, and S. Kathariou. 2004. Epidemic clone I-specific genetic markers in
strains of Listeria monocytogenes serotype 4b from routine surveys of foods. Appl.
Environ. Microbiol. 70:4158-4164.
Smith, K., N. Reimers, H. J. Barnes, B. C. Lee, R. Siletzky and S. Kathariou. 2004.
A longitudinal analysis of Campylobacter colonization in two sibling turkey flocks reared
under different management conditions. J. Food Protection 67:1463-1468.
Bashor, M, K. M. Keener, P. A. Curtis, B. W. Sheldon, S. Kathariou , and J.
Osborne. 2004. Effects of carcass washers on Campylobacter contamination in large
broiler processing plants. Poultry Sci. 83:1232-1239.
J. Johnson, K. Jinneman, G. Stelma, B. G. Smith, D. Lye, J. Messer, J. Ulaszek, L.
Evsen,S. Gendel, R. W. Bennett, B. Swaminathan, J. Pruckler, A. Steigerwalt, S.
Kathariou, S. Yildirim, D. Volokhov, A. Rasooly, V. Chizikov, M. Wiedmann, E.
Fortes, R. E. Duvall, and A. D. Hitchins. 2004. Discovery of atypical hemolytic
Listeria innocua and L. innocua-like strains. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 70:4256-4266.
Evans, M. R. , B. Swaminathan. L. M. Graves, E. Altermann, T. R. Klaenhammer,
R. C. Fink, S. Kernodle and S. Kathariou. 2004. Genetic markers unique to Listeria
monocytogenes serotype 4b differentiate epidemic clone II (hot dog outbreak strains)
from other lineages. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 70:2383-2390.
Nelson, K.E., D. E. Fouts, E. F. Mongodin, J. Ravel, R. T. DeBoy, J. F. Kolonay, D.
A. Rasko, S. V. Angiuoli, S. R. Gill, I. T. Paulsen, J. Peterson, O. White, W. C.
Nelson, W. Nierman, M. J. Beanan, L. M. Brinkac, S. C. Daugherty, R. J. Dodson,
A. S. Durkin, R. Madupu, D. H. Haft, J. Selengut, S. Van Aken, H. Khouri, N.
Fedorova, H. Forberger, B. Tran, S. Kathariou, L. D. Wonderling, G. A. Uhlich,
D. O. Bayles, J. B. Luchansky, and C. M. Fraser. 2004. Whole genome comparisons
of serotype 4b and 1/2a strains of the food-borne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes
reveal new insights into the core genome components of this species. Nucleic Acids Res.
32:2386-2395.
Keener, K. M., M.P. Bashor, P.A. Curtis, B.W. Sheldon, and S. Kathariou. 2004.
Comprehensive review of Campylobacter and poultry processing. Compr. Rev. Food
Science Food Safety 3: 105-116.
Li, G, and S. Kathariou. 2003. An Improved Cloning Vector for Construction of Gene
Replacements in Listeria monocytogenes. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 69:3020-3023.
Kathariou, S. 2003. Foodborne outbreaks of listeriosis and epidemic-associated
lineages of Listeria monocytogenes. In: M. E. Torrence and R. E. Isaacson (Ed),
Microbial Food Safety in Animal Agriculture, Iowa State Press.
Kathariou, S. 2002. Listeria monocytogenes virulence and pathogenicity, a food safety
perspective. J. Food Prot. 65:1811-1829.
Tran, H. L. and S. Kathariou. 2002. Restriction fragment length polymorphisms
detected with novel DNA probes differentiate among diverse lineages of serogroup 4
Listeria monocytogenes and identify four distinct lineages in serotype 4b. Appl. Environ.
Microbiol. 68:59-64.
Lei, X.-H., F. Fiedler, Z. Lan and S. Kathariou. 2001. A novel serotype-specific gene
cassette (gltA-gltB) is required for expression of teichoic acid-associated surface antigens
in Listeria monocytogenes of serotype 4b. J. Bacteriol. 183:1133-1139.
Lan, Z., F. Fiedler, and S. Kathariou. 2000. A sheep in wolf’s clothing: Listeria
innocua strains with teichoic acid-associated surface antigens and genes characteristic of
Listeria monocytogenes serogroup 4. J. Bacteriol. 182:6161-6168.
Clark, E. E., I. Wesley, F. Fiedler, N. Promadej, and S. Kathariou. 2000. Absence
of serotype-specific surface antigen and altered teichoic acid glycosylation among
epidemic-associated strains of Listeria monocytogenes. J. Clin. Microbiol. 38: 38563859.
Kathariou, S. 2000. Pathogenesis determinants of Listeria monocytogenes, p. 295-314.
In J. W. Cary, J. E. Linz, and D. Bhatnagar (ed.), Microbial foodborne diseases,
Technomics Publishing Co., Inc., Lancaster, Pa.
Tran, H. L., F. Fiedler, D. A. Hodgson, and S. Kathariou. 1999. Transposon-induced
mutants in two loci of Listeria monocytogenes serotype 1/2a are phage-resistant and lack
N-acetylglucosamine in the teichoic acid of the cell wall. Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
65:4793-4798
Promadej, N., F. Fiedler, P. Cossart, S. Dramsi, and S. Kathariou. 1999. Wall
teichoic acid glycosylation in serotype 4b Listeria monocytogenes requires gtcA, a novel,
serogroup-specific gene. J. Bacteriol., 181:418-425.
Flanary P. L., R. D. Allen, L. Dons and S. Kathariou. 1999. Insertional
inactivation of the Listeria monocytogenes cheYA operon abolishes response to oxygen
gradients and reduces the number of flagella. Can. J. Microbiol. 45:646-652.
Zheng, W. and S. Kathariou. 1997. Host-mediated modification of Sau3AI restriction
in Listeria monocytogenes: Prevalence in epidemic-associated strains. Appl.
Environ.Microbiol. 63:3085-3089.
Lei, X. H., N. Promadej, and S. Kathariou. 1997. DNA fragments from regions
involved in surface antigen expression specifically identify Listeria monocytogenes
serovar 4 and a subset thereof: cluster IIB (serotypes 4b-4d-4e). Appl.
Environ.Microbiol.63:1077-1082.