Donaldson wins award

Mississippi State University faculty member Janet R. Donaldson is earning a prestigious award for her work with food-borne illness-causing bacteria. The Charles C. Randall Lectureship Award is given annually to an outstanding young faculty member by the South Central Branch of the American Society for Microbiology.

Donaldson, an assistant professor of biological sciences, earlier this month formally accepted the honor at the organization’s annual meeting. She also made a formal presentation of her work to the assembly.

A Brandon native and MSU alumna, she studies how the stress responses of bacteria allow for them to colonize humans and cause disease. Her investigations primarily focus on the pathogens E. coli and Listeria monocytogenes and how they actually cause food-borne illnesses.

After receiving a bachelor’s degree and 2005 doctoral degree from Mississippi State, she completed post-doctoral work at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.

Donaldson returned to her alma mater in 2007 as a member of the faculty and currently teaches courses in general microbiology and bacterial physiology.