Animal & Food Sciences

SPECIALTY:  Dairy Chemistry/Microbiology
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Dr Hicks’ primary appointment is in the Food Science Section of the Department of Animal Science.  He is also a regional communicator for the Institute of Food Technology. 

CURRENT ACTIVITIES IN PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES:
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Dr. Hicks’ serves as Scientific Communicator, Inst. Food Technol. (IFT), Chairman and committee member of 8 USNAC expert groups, Member at Large Bluegrass Section (BGS-IFT), Committee Member of ADSA Enzyme Nomenclature, Committee Member of Awards Committee (BGS and ADSA), Co-Chairman, IFT-BGS Suppliers Night, and reviewer for J. Dairy Science (ADSA), and J.  Food Sci.(IFT).  Reviewer for several Scientific Journals.
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RESEARCH GOALS: .

Development of effective media and technologies to inhibit culture agglutination and phage proliferation in bulk starters for the cheese industry. This research area has developed significantly during the last two years. Technologies for inhibiting culture agglutination are essentially complete at this time. This research has demonstrated that culture agglutination can be totally inhibited by technologies developed in our laboratory. Our work has shown that culture agglutination may be inhibited via homogenizing the bulk starter or by growing the culture in media containing lecithin or peptide blockers (derived from immune proteins) that prevent the bacteria from sticking together. A patent protecting the peptide blocker technology in a bulk starter medium is has been granted. Peptides as small as 1000 k Da are as effective in inhibiting culture agglutination as the initial 10,000 k Da peptides that we first reported. Development of peptide blockers derived from culture virus attachment proteins was initiated in 1996. Peptides from viruses attach to binding sites on the surface of lactic culture cells during the development of the bulk receptor starter and appear to inhibit the attachment of intact viruses and inhibit viral infections of lactic cultures during cheese making. A patent was granted in 2001.  In 1999 viral peptides were found to maintain their activity even though they were heat treated at 85C for 45 min. Heat treatment of these peptides eliminated possible viral infections from the growth medium. In 2000, a Lactobacillus yit0068 viral peptides were found to be as active as a Lactococcus C2 viral peptides in protecting Lactococcus cultures from viral infections. It appears that the Lactobacillus viral peptide may have a wider species protective effect than the Lactococcus C2 peptide and thus may have a greater commercial potential. Elimination of culture agglutination will increase the cottage cheese yields by 2 to 4% and improve the overall quality of all cottage cheese. Utilization of these technologies are expected to increase yield by 2%, resulting in more than 14,311,620 lbs of extra creamed cottage cheese and 4,887,800 lbs of extra low fat cottage cheese from the same amount of milk in the United States. Value added income will increase by more than $26 million in the United States while improving product quality and market demand. Inhibition of phage proliferation in hard cheese plants (e.g. Cheddar plants) may result in an annual savings of more than a 100 million dollars worldwide. ..

Proposals submitted:
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C. L. Hicks (PI). Development of Lactococcus Bacteriophage Inhibitor for Commercial Cheese Fermentations. Dairy Management Inc. 2001 to 2004.
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COMMITTEES:
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 Ph.D. 5, M.S. 3.
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COMMITTEES:
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 Ph.D. 5, M.S. 3.
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TEACHING & ADVISING:
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• FSC 536 Advanced Food Tech., Spring 1999. 6 students. Stu. Eval (QOT) =4.0 
• FSC 306 Food Processing, Fall 1999 7 students. Stu. Eval. (QOT) = 4.0
• FSC 536 Advanced Food Tech., Spring 2000. 4 students. Stu. Eval. (QOT) =3.9  
   

PUBLICATIONS:
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Recent refereed journal articles (out of 68)

1. Farrell, Jr., H.M., R. Jimenez-Flores, G.T. Bleck, E.M. Brown, J.E. Butler, L.K. Creamer, C.L. Hicks, C.M. Hollar, K.F. Ng-Kwai-Hang, and H.E. Swaisgood. Nomenclature of the Proteins of Cows’ Milk–Sixth Revision. Journal of Dairy Science 87:1641-1674. 2004.
2. Hicks, C.L. Microwaving in plastic. Bottom Line 25(1):9. 2004.
3. Hicks, C.L., P.A. Clark-Safko, I. Surjawan, and J. O’Leary. Use of Bacteriophage-derived Peptides to Delay Phage Infections. Food Research International 37(2):115-122. 2004.
4. Castillo, M.Z., F.A. Payne, C.L. Hicks, J.S. Laencina and M.M. Lopez. Modeling casein aggregation and curd firming in goats’ milk from backscatter of infrared light. Journal of Dairy Research 70:335-348. 2003.
5. Castillo, M., F.A. Payne, C.L. Hicks, J. Laencina and M. Lopez. Effect of protein and temperature on cutting time prediction in goats’ milk using an optical reflectance sensor. Journal of Dairy Research 70:205-215. 2003.
6. Crofcheck, C. L., F. A. Payne, K. S. Gillette, S. E. Nokes, and C. L. Hicks. 2000. Relating Milkfat on Cream to Fiber Optic Backscatter Measurements. (Accepted)
7. Hicks, C. L. 2000. What Consumers Demand from Food Packaging. Agro food Industry hi-tech. 11(5) (Accepted for the November-December issue)*.
8. Castillo, M., F. A. Payne, C. L. Hicks, M.B. Lopez. 2000. Predicting cutting and clotting time of goat’s milk using diffuse reflectance: effect of pH, temperature, and enzyme concentration. International Dairy J. 10(8):55-66
9. Crofcheck, C. L., F. A. Payne, C. L. Hicks, M.P. Menguc, and S. E. Nokes. 2000. Fiber Optic Sensor Response to Low Levels of Fat in Skim Milk. J. Food Process Eng. 23:163-175.
10. Hicks, C. L., C. E. Onuorah and I. Surjawan. 2000. Use of Hydrolyzed Whey Peptide to Inhibit Culture Agglutination. J. Dairy Sci. 83:1196-1202.f

Books:

Hicks, C. L. 2000. Food Packaging. 7^th Ed. Pub. Department of Animal & Food Sciences, Lexington, KY.
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Recent abstracts (out of 112)

1. Surjawan, I., H. Karacelik, S. Neelakantan, P.A. Crooks and C.L. Hicks. Novel reporter molecule for the development of rapid assay probes. Journal of Dairy Science 88 (Suppl 1):144-145 (T58). 2005.
2. Neelakantan, S., I. Surjawan, H. Karacelik, C.L. Hicks and P.A. Crooks. Synthesis and Development of Antibiotic Delivery Probes Derived from Bacteriophage. Am. Assoc. Pharm. Sci., 2005 Procedings). 2005.
3. Neelakantan, S., H. Karacelik, I. Surjawan, P.A. Crooks and C.L. Hicks. Efficient Synthesis of Fluorescent Rapid Assay Probes. 3rd Annual Kentucky Innovation and Enterprise Conference Proceedings, March 30, 2005. Louisville, KY. 2005.
4. Karacelik, H., I. Surjawan, S. Neelakantan, P.A. Crooks and C.L. Hicks. Fluorescent Rapid Assay Probes derived from Phage Peptides. 3rd Annual Kentucky Innovation and Enterprise Conference Proceedings, March 30, 2005. Louisville, KY. 2005.
5. Hicks, C.L., J. Tang and I. Surjawan. Inhibition of Salamonella and Escherichia coli phage with c2 phage peptide. Journal of Dairy Science 85 (Suppl. 1)W275. 2003.
6. Hicks, C.L. and P.A. Crooks. Development of bio-active probes derived from bacteriophage. 1st Annual Kentucky Innovation and Enterprise Conference Proceedings, March 5, Lexington, KY. 2003.
7. Surjawan, I and C.L. Hicks. Bovine a-lactalbumin, a metallo-protein, inhibits bacteriophage (L. lactis ssp lactis c2) proliferation on its host (L. lactis ssp lactis C2). 2003 Inst. Food Technology Annual Meeting Book of Abstracts. Chicago, IL. 2003.
8. Surjawan, I. and C.L. Hicks. Effect of c2 phage peptide on acid development in milk inoculated with Lactococcus lactis spp lactis C2 with and without c2 phage infection. Journal of Dairy Science 85 (Suppl. 1) W274. 2003.
9. Surjarwan, I and C. L. Hicks. 2000. Inhibition of Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis c2 bacteriophage proliferation in L. lactis ssp lactis C2 grown in medium containing heat treated L. lactis ssp. lactis c2 phage-peptide. J. Dairy Sci. 83(Suppl. 1):92 (Abst. 395).
10. N. S. Jose, C. L. Hicks, and I Surjawan. 2000. Inhibition of Lactobacillus plantarum yit0068 bacteriophage proliferation in L. plantarum host grown in medium containing L. plantarum yit0068 phage peptide. Page 147 (Abst. 65C-10) in 2000 Inst. Food Technol. Annual Meeting Book of Abstracts. Chicago, IL.
11. I. Surjawan, C. L. Hicks, and N. S. Jose. 2000. Inhibition of Lactobacillus plantarum yit0068 bacteriophage proliferation in L. plantarum host grown in medium containing Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis c2 phage peptide. Page 147 (Abst. 65C-8) in 2000 Inst. Food Technol. Annual Meeting Book of Abstracts. Chicago, IL.
12. C. L. Hicks and P. A. Clark-Safko. 1999. Effect of c2 phage peptides on Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis C2 agglutination. J. Dairy Science 82(Suppl. 1)10.
13. C. L. Crofcheck, F. A. Payne, C. L. Hicks, M. P. Menguc, and S. E. Nokes. 1999. Fiber optic sensor response to low levels of fat in skim milk. ASAE # 996018. Presented at 1999 Intl. Meetings, Toronto, Canada.

Patents:

1. Hicks, C. L., inventor.  2002.  Method of Inhibiting binding activity of Immunoglobulins.  Univ. of Kentucky assignee.  Pat No.6,348,346.  February 19,2002.
2. Hicks, C. L., inventor.  2001.  Cheese Making with Bacteriophage resistant bacteria.  University of Kentucky, assignee.  Pat No. 6,297,042.  Oct. 2, 2001..

1. Lindsay R., G. Stern, C. Hicks, and B. Bradley. 2001. Evaluating Problem Cheeses.  18th Annual Conference of the Amer. Cheese Soc. Proceedings.  Delavan WI. p1.
2. O'Leary, J., and C. Hicks. 2001. On & Off Site Testing for Cheese Quality.  18th Annual Conference of the Amer. Cheese Soc. Proceedings.  Delavan WI. p1.
3. Hicks, C. L. 2001. Factors Affecting Cheddar Cheese Quality.  Agrodvir Dairies Conference. Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. May 24, 2001.
4. Hicks, C. L. 2001. Improving Plant Sanitation.  Agrodvir Dairies Conference.  Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. May 24, 2001. p. 1-35.
5. Hicks, C. L. 2001. Milk composition and quality impacts on cheese yield.  Scientific Program for the Intl. Animal Agriculture and Food Science Conference July 24-48, Dairy Foods Workshop. ADSA, Champaign, IL. p5.

CONSULTATIONS:
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Consulting, 1999 - Current. Raskas Foods, St. Louis, Mo.

Consultant, 1998 - Current, Burt Lewis Intl. Corp., Chicago, IL

Consultant, 1998 - Current, Armour, Springfield, KY

Consultant, 1994 - Current, World Environ. Ctr., NY, NY

Consultant, 1984 - Current, LifeStaff, Brainbridge Is., WA