Meet the Upadhyah Lab Members
We are a dynamic and interdisciplinary team of graduate and undergraduate researchers, with active recruitment for students interested in microbiology, food safety, and poultry science. Learn more about our current team and opportunities to join us.
Abhinav Upadhyay
Hobbies/Non-Academic Interests: sports-cricket, badminton, tennis, soccer, reading, movies, music and cooking.
Education
Abhinav (Abhi) Upadhyay received his Bachelor of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry (B.V.Sc & A.H) from Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Veterinary Education and Research (RIVER), Pondicherry, India, 2007; M.S in Veterinary Microbiology from Rajasthan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (RAJUVAS), Bikaner, Rajasthan, India, 2009; and Ph.D. in Animal Science from the University of Connecticut, USA, 2014.
Post-doct
After a brief postdoc at the University of Connecticut, he joined The Center of Excellence for Poultry Science, University of Arkansas as postdoctoral associate in 2015 where he worked on developing antibiotic alternatives for controlling foodborne pathogens and diseases in poultry. He joined the Department of Animal Science at the University of Connecticut as an assistant professor in January 2019.
Research
His research aims to develop novel intervention strategies for controlling foodborne pathogens such as Salmonella and Campylobacter jejuni in the food production system. Built on the principle of “farm-to-fork” safety, his research focuses on four broad areas, namely (I) reducing pathogen colonization in poultry (II) controlling the persistence of foodborne pathogens in processing environment (III) inactivation of foodborne pathogens in food products and (IV) developing anti-virulence strategies to control foodborne pathogens in humans.
Current Lab Members
- Trushenkumar Shah
- Jodie Allen
- Chetna Shah
- Ana
- Balaji
- Manoj
- Graduate Students
- Brindha
- Kimberly Rankin
- Chen Zhu
- Atul Walunj
- Undergraduate researchers
- Omola