A type of bacteria known as lactobacilli can either spoil food or, as is the case with fermented foods such as sourdough bread, improve its taste. Knowing how these bacteria evolve and function is key to producing better-quality food.
Craving a deeper understanding, University of Alberta food microbiologist Michael Gänzle and a team of international researchers eventually challenged — and overturned — the classification of lactobacilli that had existed since 1919 but was far out of date.
“It was impossible to relate the way it was classified to the biology and evolution of the organism. It just didn’t make sense,” the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences professor recalls now.
The study published in 2020 by Gänzle and his colleagues “took about five years, but we eventually came up with a different classification, superseding 100 years of scientific literature.”
The updated work reclassifies the bacteria and “is the go-to place to understand where lactobacilli are and what they do, as one of the most industrially important organisms used in food production and to develop probiotics.”
Several important papers stemmed from the research, including insight into replacing additives and extra ingredients with the healthier option of fermentation and developing a periodic table of fermented foods that supports scientific discovery in creating new food products.
The landmark work also laid the foundation for Gänzle to be named to Clarivate’s 2023 Highly Cited Researchers list — the third year in a row he has appeared on the list.
The Clarivate list identifies authors of multiple scientific papers ranking in the top one per cent in the world by citations for their field and publication year over the last decade, demonstrating significant influence among their peers.
Having highly cited studies “makes it easier for scientists and stakeholders to find relevant information” that can strengthen their own discovery work, Gänzle says.
Cited more than 18,100 times since 1996 according to Clarivate’s Web of Science platform, Gänzle is joined on the list for the first time by soil scientist Scott Chang and nutrition researcher Carla Prado, both from the Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences. Also named to this year’s list are Faculty of Science genetics researcher Gane Ka-Shu Wong, physical activity researcher Valerie Carson of the Faculty of Kinesiology, Sport, and Recreation, and computational biology professor David Wishart, whose work has been cited more than 76,600 times since 1986.
Also on the list from the Wishart Research Group is previous member Michael Wilson, a bioinformatics specialist who co-founded the startup company DrugBank, and bioinformatician David Arndt, who now works with The Metabolomics Innovation Centre.
“The University of Alberta is proud of the impact that our researchers create — not just in solving the grand challenges of our time, but also in developing advancements that speed discovery and knowledge generation around the world,” says Aminah Robinson Fayek, U of A vice-president of research and innovation.
“With the recent launch of Forward with Purpose, our first pan-institutional strategic plan for research and innovation, we are poised to offer even more support for our researchers, accelerating their work and helping them achieve local and global outcomes for the benefit of all.”
Canadian universities had 218 researchers on the list to sit sixth in the world. The United States led this year with 2,669 of the most highly cited researchers, followed by Mainland China with 1,275 researchers and the United Kingdom with 574 researchers.
The U of A’s leading expertise in a diverse range of subjects has been recognized in several academic rankings this year, with five subjects ranking among the world’s top 50 in the 2023 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects, and four ranking best in Canada. The university also had four subjects ranked among the global top 100 in the 2024 Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject, with all four making gains this year. And it was ranked as the best institution in Canada to study nursing in the Maclean’s 2024 Canadian University Rankings, which also saw education rank among the top three programs in the country.