Expertise
- Food microbiology
- Bacterial genomics
- Bacterial stress response
Education
- Ph.D. in Microbiology, Clemson University
Professional Experiences
Postdoctoral associate, University of Maryland
Postdoctoral associate, University of California, Davis
Postdoctoral associate, Clemson University
Recent Publications
Chen, Z. & Meng, J. (2022). Critical assessment of short-read assemblers for the metagenomic identification of foodborne and waterborne pathogens using simulated bacterial communities. Microorganisms, 10, 2416.
Cao, G., Zhao, S., Kuang, D., Hsu, C., Yin, L., Luo, Y., Chen, Z., Xu, Xu., Strain, E., McDermott, P., Allard, M., Brown, E., Meng, J., & Zheng, J. (2022). Geography shapes the genomics and antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis isolated from humans. Scientific Reports, 13, 1331.
Chen, Z. (2022). Application of chlorine dioxide-based hurdle technology to improve microbial food safety–A review. International Journal of Food Microbiology, 379, 109848.
Ballesteros-Nova, N. E., Sánchez, S., Steffani, J. L., Sierra, L.C., Chen, Z., Ruíz-López F. A., Rubio, M. S., Soberanis, O., Barona, F., Meng, J., Allard, M. W., & Delgado-Suárez, E. J. (2022). Genomic epidemiology of Salmonella enterica circulating in surface waters used in agriculture and aquaculture in Mexico. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 88, e02149-21.
Wang, Z., Zhu, T., Chen, Z., Meng, J., Simpson, D. J., & Gänzle, M. G. (2021). Genetic determinants of stress resistance in desiccated Salmonella enterica. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 87, e01683-21.
Chen, Z. & Meng, J. (2021). Persistence of Salmonella enterica and Enterococcus faecium NRRL B-2354 on baby spinach subjected to temperature abuse after exposure to sub-lethal stresses. Foods, 10, 2141.
Chen, Z., Erickson, D. L., & Meng, J. (2021). Polishing the Oxford Nanopore long-read assemblies of bacterial pathogens with Illumina short reads to improve genomic analyses. Genomics, 113, 1366-1377.
Chen, Z., Erickson, D. L., & Meng, J. (2020). Benchmarking long-read assemblers for genomic analyses of bacterial pathogens using Oxford Nanopore sequencing. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21, 9161.
Chen, Z., Erickson, D. L., & Meng, J. (2020). Benchmarking hybrid assembly approaches for genomic analyses of bacterial pathogens using Illumina and Oxford Nanopore sequencing. BMC Genomics, 21, 1-21.
Kwon, H. J., Chen, Z., Evans, P., Meng, J., & Chen, Y. (2020). Characterization of mobile genetic elements using long-read sequencing for tracking Listeria monocytogenes from food processing environments. Pathogens, 9, 822.
Chen, Z., Kuang, D., Xu, X., González-Escalona, N., Erickson, D. L., Brown, E., & Meng, J. (2020). Genomic analyses of multidrug-resistant Salmonella Indiana, Typhimurium, and Enteritidis isolates using MinION and MiSeq sequencing technologies. PloS ONE, 15, e0235641.
Grant Awards
2022 – 2024. Principal investigator. “Control of Persistent Salmonella enterica on Foods with Prior Exposure to Sub-Lethal Food Production-Related Stresses Using a Hurdle Concept”, U.S. Department of Agriculture - National Institute of Food and Agriculture. $288,000.
2023 – 2026. Co-principal investigator. "Production and Application of Biochar in Agricultural Practices at Small and Underserved Farms: Soil enhancement, Carbon Sequestration, and Promoting Climate-Smart Commodities", U.S. Department of Agriculture - Natural Resources Conservation Service. $4,855,000.
Editorial Board Members
International Journal of Food Microbiology
Food Control
LWT - Food Science and Technology
Professional Members
International Association for Food Protection
American Society for Microbiology
