Robert Hutkins
- Khem Shahani Distinguished Professor of Food Science, Department of Food Science and Technology
hutkins@unl.edu
402-472-2820
Bob Hutkins is the Khem Shahani Professor of Food Microbiology at the University of Nebraska. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota and was a postdoctoral fellow at Boston University School of Medicine. The Hutkins Lab studies bacteria important in human health and in fermented foods. His group is particularly interested in understanding factors affecting persistence of beneficial bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract and how probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics can enhance health outcomes.
Featured Publications
Marco, M.L., M.E. Sanders, M. Gänzle, M. Arrieta, P.D. Cotter, L. De Vuyst, C. Hill, W. Holzapfel, S. Lebeer, D. Merenstein, G. Reid, B.E. Wolfe, and R. Hutkins. 2022. The International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics consensus statement on fermented foods. Nat. Rev. Gastroenterol. Hepatol. 18:196-208.
Christensen, C., C.R. Kok, J. Auchtung, and R. Hutkins.. 2022. Prebiotics enhance persistence of fermented-food associated bacteria in in vitro cultivated fecal microbial communities. Front. Microbiol. 13:908506.
Drey, E., C.R. Kok, and R. Hutkins 2022. The role of Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum in the degradation and consumption of xylan-derived carbohydrate. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 88:e01299-22.
Kok, C.R., D. Rose, and R. Hutkins. 2023. Predicting personalized responses to dietary fiber interventions: Opportunities for modulation of the gut microbiome to improve health. Annu. Rev. Food Sci. Technol. 14:157-182.`
Mendelson, C., S. Sparkes, D.J. Merenstein, C. Christensen, V. Sharma, S. Desale, J.M. Auchtung, C.R. Kok, H. Hallen-Adams, and R. Hutkins. 2023. Kombucha tea as an anti-hyperglycemic agent in humans with diabetes – randomized controlled pilot investigation. Front. Nutr. 10:1190248.