Jasna Kovac
Lester Earl and Veronica Casida Career Development Professor of Food Safety; Assistant Professor of Food Science

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437 Rodney A. Erickson Food Science
University Park, PA - She/Her
- jzk303@psu.edu
- 814-865-2883
Research Summary
Integrating epidemiological, microbiological, molecular and omics methods to better understand microbial pathogenic potential, antimicrobial resistance, and epidemiology of foodborne pathogens.
Huck Graduate Students
Huck Affiliations
- Microbiome Center
- Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Biosciences
- Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics
- Bioinformatics and Genomics
Links
Publication Tags
Bacillus Cereus Genes Genome Salmonella Virulence Food Phylogeny Anti Bacterial Agents Dairy Products Food Microbiology Bacteriology Milk Dairies Antibiotics Nucleotides Campylobacter Jejuni Emetics Phenotype Cytotoxicity Lasers Anthrax Machine Learning Ciprofloxacin Whole Genome Sequencing Antibiotic ResistanceMost Recent Papers
Unique inducible filamentous motility identified in pathogenic bacillus cereus group species
Martha M. Liu, Shannon Coleman, Lauren Wilkinson, Maren L. Smith, Thomas Hoang, Naomi Niyah, Manjari Mukherjee, Steven Huynh, Craig T. Parker, Jasna Kovac, Robert E.W. Hancock, Erin C. Gaynor, 2020, ISME Journal on p. 2997-3010
Novel effective bacillus cereus group species "bacillus clarus" is represented by antibiotic-producing strain ATCC 21929 isolated from soil
Marysabel Méndez Acevedo, Laura M. Carroll, Manjari Mukherjee, Emma Mills, Lingzi Xiaoli, Edward G. Dudley, Jasna Kovac, 2020, mSphere
Dynamic laser speckle imaging meets machine learning to enable rapid antibacterial susceptibility testing (DYRAST)
Zhiwen Liu, Seyedehaida Ebrahimi, Keren Zhou, Chen Zhou, Anjali Sapre, Jared Henry Pavlock, Ashley Weaver, Ritvik Muralidharan, Josh Noble, Taejung Chung, Jasna Kovac, 2020, ACS Sensors on p. 3140-3149
Review of the prevalence of foodborne pathogens in milk and dairy products in Ethiopia
Abdi Keba, M. Laura Rolon, Aynadis Tamene, Kindinew Dessie, Jessie Vipham, Jasna Kovac, Ashagrie Zewdu, 2020, International Dairy Journal
No assembly required: Using BTyper3 to assess the congruency of a proposed taxonomic framework for the Bacillus cereus group with historical typing methods
Laura M. Carroll, Rachel A. Cheng, Jasna Kovac, 2020, Frontiers in Microbiology
The Composition of Microbial Communities in Six Streams, and Its Association With Environmental Conditions, and Foodborne Pathogen Isolation
Taejung Chung, Daniel L. Weller, Jasna Kovac, 2020, Frontiers in Microbiology
Whole-genome sequences of salmonella isolates from an ecological wastewater treatment system
Charles J. Connolly, Laura Kaminsky, Gabriella N. Pinto, Priscilla C. Sinclair, Gyasu Bajracharya, Runan Yan, Erin M. Nawrocki, Edward G. Dudley, Jasna Kovaca, 2020, Microbiology Resource Announcements
Extended enrichment procedures can be used to define false-negative probabilities for cultural gold standard methods for salmonella detection, facilitating comparisons between gold standard and alternative methods
Genevieve Sullivan, Xiaodong Guo, Jeffrey I. Tokman, Sherry Roof, Aljosa Trmcic, Robert C. Baker, Silin Tang, Peter Markwell, Martin Wiedmann, Jasna Kovac, 2020, Journal of Food Protection on p. 1030-1037
Paenibacillus odorifer, the predominant Paenibacillus species isolated from milk in the United States, demonstrates genetic and phenotypic conservation of psychrotolerance but clade-associated differences in nitrogen metabolic pathways
Sarah M. Beno, Rachel A. Cheng, Renato H. Orsi, Diana R. Duncan, Xiaodong Guo, Jasna Kovac, Laura M. Carroll, Nicole H. Martin, Martin Wiedmann, 2020, mSphere
Proposal of a taxonomic nomenclature for the bacillus cereus group which reconciles genomic definitions of bacterial species with clinical and industrial phenotypes
Laura M. Carroll, Martin Wiedmann, Jasna Kovac, 2020, mBio
Most-Cited Papers
Bacillus wiedmannii sp. nov., a psychrotolerant and cytotoxic bacillus cereus group species isolated from dairy foods and dairy environments
Rachel A. Miller, Sarah M. Beno, David J. Kent, Laura M. Carroll, Nicole H. Martin, Kathryn J. Boor, Jasna Kovac, 2016, International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology on p. 4744-4753
Characterization of egg laying hen and broiler fecal microbiota in poultry farms in Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovenia
Petra Videnska, Md Masudur Rahman, Marcela Faldynova, Vladimir Babak, Marta Elsheimer Matulova, Estella Prukner-Radovcic, Ivan Krizek, Sonja Smole-Mozina, Jasna Kovac, Ama Szmolka, Bela Nagy, Karel Sedlar, Darina Cejkova, Ivan Rychlik, 2014, PLoS One
Antibiotic resistance modulation and modes of action of (-)-α-Pinene in Campylobacter jejuni
Jasna Kovač, Katarina Šimunović, Zuowei Wu, Anja Klančnik, Franz Bucar, Qijing Zhang, Sonja Smole Možina, 2015, PLoS One on p. e0122871
Rapid, high-throughput identification of anthrax-causing and emetic Bacillus cereus group genome assemblies via BTyper, a computational tool for virulencebased classification of Bacillus cereus group isolates by using nucleotide sequencing data
Laura M. Carroll, Jasna Kovac, Rachel A. Miller, Martin Wiedmann, 2017, Applied and Environmental Microbiology
Production of hemolysin BL by Bacillus cereus group isolates of dairy origin is associated with whole-genome phylogenetic clade
Jasna Kovac, Rachel A. Miller, Laura M. Carroll, David J. Kent, Jiahui Jian, Sarah M. Beno, Martin Wiedmann, 2016, BMC Genomics
Characterization of emetic and diarrheal Bacillus cereus strains from a 2016 foodborne outbreak using whole-genome sequencing: Addressing the microbiological, epidemiological, and bioinformatic challenges
Laura M. Carroll, Martin Wiedmann, Manjari Mukherjee, David C. Nicholas, Lisa A. Mingle, Nellie B. Dumas, Jocelyn A. Cole, Jasna Kovac, 2019, Frontiers in Microbiology
Intraclade variability in toxin production and cytotoxicity of Bacillus cereus group type strains and dairy-associated isolates
Rachel A. Miller, Jiahui Jian, Sarah M. Beno, Martin Wiedmann, Jasna Kovac, 2018, Applied and Environmental Microbiology
Precision food safety
Jasna Kovac, Henk den Bakker, Laura M. Carroll, Martin Wiedmann, 2017, TrAC - Trends in Analytical Chemistry on p. 52-61
High genetic similarity of ciprofloxacin-resistant Campylobacter jejuni in central Europe
Jasna Kovač, Neža Čadež, Beatrix Stessl, Kerstin Stingl, Igor Gruntar, Matjaž Ocepek, Marija Trkov, Martin Wagner, Sonja Smole Možina, 2015, Frontiers in Microbiology
Virulence and antimicrobial resistance determinants of verotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC) and of multidrug-resistant E. coli from foods of animal origin illegally imported to the EU by flight passengers
B. Nagy, A. Szmolka, S. Smole Možina, J. Kovač, A. Strauss, S. Schlager, J. Beutlich, B. Appel, M. Lušicky, P. Aprikian, J. Pászti, I. Tóth, R. Kugler, M. Wagner, 2015, International Journal of Food Microbiology on p. 52-59
News Articles Featuring Jasna Kovac
Sep 24, 2020
Penn State Microbiome Center elects new executive committee
The Penn State Microbiome Center in the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences recently elected six new members to join its executive committee. The new members, along with 11 others who remained on the committee, started their two-year term in July.
Full Article
Jun 03, 2020
Huck graduate students among NSF award recipients
Five graduate students in Huck programs or involved with Huck centers, advised by faculty members in the College of Agricultural Sciences, were recipients or honorable mentions of National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships.
Full Article
Aug 21, 2019
Foodborne pathogen sheltered by harmless bacteria that support biofilm formation
Pathogenic bacteria that stubbornly lurk in some apple-packing facilities may be sheltered and protected by harmless bacteria that are known for their ability to form biofilms, according to Penn State researchers, who suggest the discovery could lead to development of alternative foodborne-pathogen-control strategies.
Full Article
May 07, 2019
Institutes of Energy and the Environment announces seed grant recipients
Several Huck researchers are among the recipients of 2018-19 IEE seed grants.
Full Article
Apr 25, 2019
Food Scientist Kovac Receives Young Investigator Award
Jasna Kovac, assistant professor of food science in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, recently was named recipient of the Institut Merieux Young Investigator Award in Antimicrobial Resistance from the International Association for Food Protection.
Full Article