The Dannon Company awarded a UF graduate student with its third annual $25,000 Yogurt and Probiotics Fellowship Grant, aiding probiotic research.
Amanda Ford, a graduate student in the UF Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, will study the effect probiotics have on dietary changes.
Ford, 26, will conduct a clinical research study targeted at an older adult population because of its increased need for high protein, as well as analyze the possible changes in the microbiota caused by probiotics, yielding the highest health benefits.
“We were looking for a candidate that would introduce all aspects of yogurt into their research, and Amanda was able to reflect that,” said Miguel Freitas, vice president of health affairs at The Dannon Company.
The study is still awaiting approval from the UF Institutional Review Board.
“Dannon offers a unique opportunity for graduate students to further explore the field,” Ford said, “and to receive this kind of recognition from the leader in fermented dairy products is a great honor.”
Ford began working with probiotics as a volunteer in 2009 in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition before becoming a Ph.D. student.
“After a week of Amanda volunteering, I offered her a job because she was so great,” said Wendy Dahl, Ford’s adviser.
Dahl described Ford as a mature and brilliant student. She has co-authored five peer-reviewed manuscripts with two more publications expected this year — all before starting her dissertation study.
Ford received a bachelor’s in food science and nutrition in 2010 and her master’s of science in management in 2011 from UF. She became a Ph.D. student in 2012. Ford said she hopes to continue her studies in probiotics after graduating.
“I’m extremely interested in further exploring the health benefits,” she said, “and how probiotics not only affect microbiota, but also the clinical application of the use of probiotics.”
[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 1/29/2015 under the headline “UF Ph.D. student receives $25,000 probiotics grant "]
