Dr. Daniela Barile and UC Davis Collaborators Receive Innovator of the Year Award

As part of the 2020 UC Davis Chancellor’s Innovation Awards, Dr. Daniela Barile along with a team of five fellow UC Davis faculty (Dr. Bruce German, Professor, Food Science and Technology; Dr. Carlito Lebrilla, Professor, Chemistry; Dr. David Mills, Professor, Food Science and Technology; Dr. Jennifer Smilowitz, Faculty Affiliate, Food Science and Technology; Dr. Mark Underwood, Professor, Pediatrics) received the Innovator of the Year Award.

The UC Davis Chancellor’s Innovation Awards acknowledge “faculty, community partners, and industry leaders for their success in developing new technologies, social platforms or other innovations based on university research or academic endeavors.” The Innovator of the Year Award in particular recognizes UC Davis faculty or staff whose “inventive, innovative or entrepreneurial activities have had a measurable societal impact in the last year, or those whose activities or achievements in the last year have a very strong potential to make a significant impact in the future.”

Drs. Barile, German, Lebrilla, Mills, Smilowitz, and Underwood received the award in recognition of their work at the forefront of the field of infant nutritional health, particularly in determining the role of breast milk oligosaccharides in promoting the growth of the beneficial bacteria Bifidobacterium longum ssp. infantis in the infant gut and developing a novel probiotic intended to enhance infant health.

As part of the award, the team will receive $10,000 that will be applied toward their research.

Additional information on the team’s work and the 2020 UC Davis Chancellor’s Innovation Awards can be found at https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/uc-davis-names-recipients-2020-chancellors-innovation-awards

Story by Sierra Durham

Photo by Stephanie Maroney, UC Davis