Wolfram M Brück

• PhD
• Professor (Full) at University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland Valais-Wallis, Sion, Switzerland

Rosehip is of notable scientific interest due to its rich content of bioactives and its wide-ranging applications in nutrition, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. The valorization of rosehip by-products, such as pomace, is highly significant for promoting sustainability. This study investigates the development of rosehip-based powders and beverage prot...

Plant biologists have long used various model organisms, such as Arabidopsis thaliana, to study biological processes. The emergence of algal model organisms in recent years greatly facilitated plant research due to their compact genomes with a very low level of functional redundancy and their physiological properties. Here, the green microalga Chlo...

Due to global warming, agricultural production systems are exposed to increasing abiotic stresses, which threaten an economically and environmentally sustainable food production. Innovative environmentally friendly solutions are needed to cope with climate-related risks and to reduce the use of high amounts of synthetic agrochemicals. A promising s...

Since foodborne diseases are one of the major causes of human hospitalization and death, one of the main challenges to food safety is the elimination or reduction of pathogens from food products throughout the food production chain. Pathogens, such as Salmonella species, Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus, Clostridium species, Staphylococcus aureus,...

The essential oils of five Vietnamese Syzygium species (Syzygium levinei, S. acuminatissimum, S. vestitum, S. cumini, and S. buxifolium) were first hydro-distilled and analyzed using GC-FID/MS (gas chromatography-flame ionization detection/mass spectrometry). Monoterpene hydrocarbons, sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, and oxygenated sesquiterpenoids were...

The gut microbiota of healthy breastfed infants is often dominated by bifidobacteria. In an effort to mimic the microbiota of breastfed infants, modern formulas are fortified with bioactive and bifidogenic ingredients. These ingredients promote the optimal health and development of infants as well as the development of the infant microbiota. Here,...

Oil extracted from walnuts leaves behind large amounts of defatted press cake that still retains valuable nutrients. Solid state fermentation (SSF) is a promising method to liberate bioactive compounds from food by-products. Aspergillus oryzae, Rhizopus oligosporus, and Streptococcus thermophilus possess the necessary enzymes to utilize these nutri...

Good hand hygiene has proven to be essential in reducing the uncontrolled spread of human pathogens. Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) may provide an alternative to disinfecting hands with ethanol-based handrubs when handwashing facilities are unavailable. CAP can be safely applied to the skin if the energy is well controlled. In this study, radio freq...

Background: This study aimed to investigate the prevalences of some important antibiotic-resistance genes (ARGs) and foodborne bacterial pathogens in sweet samples collected from local markets in Iran. Methods: Forty sweet samples were collected. Foodborne pathogens and ARGs were detected in the sweet samples by conventional and multiplex PCR as...

Good hand hygiene has proven to be essential in reducing the uncontrolled spread of human pathogens. Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) may provide an alternative to disinfecting hands with ethanol-based handrubs when hand washing facilities are unavailable. CAP can be safely applied to the skin if the energy is well controlled. In this study, RF and DC...

Background In healthcare-associated infections, the major transmission route is assumed to be the direct or indirect contact between patients, staff, and the environment. However, little is known about the air role as a pool for pathogens and multidrug resistance (MDR) in healthcare settings. The aim of this study was to quantitatively and qualitat...

Background: Gastric cancer has been recognized as the second most probable cause of death in humans from cancer diseases around the world. Postbiotics, supernatant, and metabolites from probiotic microorganisms have recently been used widely to prevent and treat cancer diseases in humans, without any undesirable side effects. This study explores t...

Background and Objectives: Bromelain and ficin are aqueous extracts from fruits of Ananas comosus and Ficus carcia plants, used widely for medical applications. Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is a homolog of ACE, degrading Ang II to angiotensin 1-7 and decreasing the cellular concentration of Ang II. Materials and Methods: In this study, we...

Shigella species are the main cause of bacillary diarrhoea or shigellosis in humans. These organisms are the inhabitants of the human intestinal tract; however, they are one of the main concerns in public health in both developed and developing countries. In this study, we reviewed and summarised the previous studies and recent advances in molecula...

Background: Food insecurity and hunger contribute to physical, psychological, and social effects. The relationship between food insecurity and negative consequences on health has been confirmed in multiple studies. The present study aims to identify food security and its association with some demographic factors in children and their parents. Metho...

Foodborne and zoonotic viral pathogens are responsible for substantial morbidity and mortality worldwide. These viruses can be transmitted through foods such as dairy products to humans and cause several acute and chronic diseases. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and profile of different foodborne and zoonotic viruses in raw cow milk...

Medicinal leeches (Hirudo medicinalis) are used in surgical and non-surgical manners. Morganella morganii is an opportunistic and zoonotic pathogenic bacterium causing serious clinical complications. In this study, we isolated, discovered and characterized M. morganii-infected H. medicinalis. We detected and identified M. morganii in all inflamed a...

Antioxidants are widely used in pharmaceutical industries. Gelatin is a byproduct of the meat industry and its hydrolysates showed several functionalities, such as antioxidant activity. The purpose of this study was to describe and optimize the enzymatic hydrolysis conditions including time, temperature, pH, and enzyme/substrate ratio (E/S) to prod...

Oil is extracted from walnut leaves behind large quantities of defatted press cake that is still rich in valuable nutrients. Aspergillus oryzae and Rhizopus oligosporus, two molds traditionally used in Asia, have the necessary enzymes to use the nutrients in the walnut press cake. Walnuts and the press cake contain ellagitannins, known as precursor...

Escherichia coli serogroup O157 is the main causative agent of several intestinal and extra-intestinal foodborne diseases in humans through consumption of low-dose contaminated foods such as milk, beef, and vegetables. To date, studies regarding the quantitative prevalence of E. coli O157 in foods are so limited. Therefore, this study aimed to eval...

Flaxseeds are typically consumed either as whole flaxseed, ground flaxseed, flaxseed oil, partially defatted flaxseed meal, or as a milk alternative. They are considered a rich source of vitamins , minerals, proteins and peptides, lipids, carbohydrates, lignans, and dietary fiber, which have shown hypolipidemic, antiatherogenic, anticholesterolemic...

Although insects have long been part of the human diet in many countries, they are poorly received and accepted in European and North American countries. Therefore, this cross-sectional observational study, based on a structured questionnaire, aimed to evaluate the level of acceptability of entomophagy among young adults in a Swiss university conte...

Shigellosis is one of the most important gastric infections caused by different species of Shigella and has been regarded as a serious threat to public health. Lineage/sublineage profile of S. sonnei is strongly associated with the antibiotic resistance and population structure of this pathogen. In this study, we determined the phylogeny and antibi...

Background: Cronobacter sakazakii is a new emerging foodborne bacterial pathogen associated with severe lethal diseases such as meningitis, necrotizing enterocolitis, and septicemia in infants and neonates. Powdered infant formula milk (PIFM) has been recognized as one of the main transmission vehicles and contaminated sources of this pathogen. Th...

Background: Clostridium perfringens is one of the highest prevailing spore-forming foodborne pathogens, which is widely distributed and causes severe disease and outbreaks in humans and animals. Raw meat and poultry are the main vehicles of this pathogen. In this study, we investigated the prevalence, antibiotic resistance pattern, toxin-encoding...

Shigellosis is one of the major public health concerns in developing and low-income countries caused by four species of Shigella. There is an apparent need to develop rapid, cost-effective, sensitive and specific methods for differentiation of Shigella species to be used in outbreaks and health surveillance systems. We developed a sensitive and spe...

Shigella species, a group of intracellular foodborne pathogens, are the main causes of bacillary dysentery and shigellosis in humans worldwide. It is essential to determine the species of Shigella in outbreaks and food safety surveillance systems. The available immunological and molecular methods for identifying Shigella species are relatively comp...

Objective Species identification of Shigella isolates are so prominent for epidemiological studies and infection prevention strategies. We developed and evaluated RAPD and ERIC-PCR coupled with HRM for differentiation of non-dysenteriae Shigella species as potential alternative methods. After isolation of eighteen Shigella strains from faecal speci...

The emergence of multi-drug resistant E. coli is an important matter of increasing considerable concern to global public health. The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence, antibiotic resistance pattern and phylogroups of E. coli isolates obtained from raw milk, vegetable salad and ground meat samples collected from Qazvin Province (Ira...

The emergence of multidrug-resistant Shigella is a significant threat to global public health. Limited studies have investigated the incidence, antimicrobial susceptibility, and genetic diversity of Shigella isolated from food products. Conventional culture-based, serologic, molecular, disk diffusion, PCR, and RAPD-PCR methods were used to determin...

Escherichia coli are remarkably versatile microorganisms and important members of the normal intestinal microbiota of humans and animals. This harmless commensal organism can acquire a mixture of comprehensive mobile genetic elements that contain genes encoding virulence factors, becoming an emerging human pathogen capable of causing a broad spectr...

Escherichia coli are remarkably versatile microorganisms and important members of the normal intestinal microbiota of humans and animals. This harmless commensal organism can acquire a mixture of comprehensive mobile genetic elements that contain genes encoding viru-lence factors, becoming an emerging human pathogen capable of causing a broad spect...

The emergence of multi-drug resistant E. coli is an important matter of increasing considerable concern to global public health. The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence, antibiotic resistance pattern, phylogroups and genetic variation of E. coli isolates from raw milk, vegetable salad and ground meat samples. Methods: Culture-based t...

Objective: Gelatin is a byproduct of meat industry and its hydrolysates showed several functionalities such as antioxidant activity. Response surface methodology (RSM) is a statistical method to mode and optimize biological processes. The purpose of this study was to describe and optimize the enzymatic hydrolysis conditions including time, temperat...

Chryseobacterium indologenes is an opportunistic pathogen isolated from human infections and, rarely, from some aquatic animals. A 3-year-old male ball python (Python regius) was admitted to the veterinary clinic by a pet owner because of acute respiratory and swallowing failure. During physical examinations, oral secretions and abscesses were obse...

Chitin is the first polysaccharide identified by man. Chitin and its numerous oligomeric and monomeric, acetylated or deacetylated derivates have many physiological functions and applications. Chitin is found in the cuticles of arthropods and is a major constituent of cell walls from fungal, yeast and algae, from where chitin can be extracted chemi...

The depletion of natural resources is one of the most concerning issues for today's society. A responsible and ecological management of our remaining resources is vital to ensure a viable future for all. Part of this management strategy is sustainable, nutritious and safe food production. With the aim to carry out a sustainable production of food i...

Chitin is the second most abundant biopolymer on earth, next to plant-derived celluloses. It can be found in fungi, insects, and crustacean shells. The processing of crustaceans (e.g., shrimps and crabs) in the EU alone results in more than 100,000 tons of shell waste each year. Chemically, chitin is distinguished from cellulose just by an addition...

Breast milk provides optimal species-specific nutrition for the growing animal. Consequently, bovine milk–based nutrition for infants is incapable of providing a balanced nutritional profile without considerable adaptation. Human milk, e.g., has a larger proportion of alpha-lactalbumin (28%) than bovine milk (3%) or whey-dominant formula where β-la...

The use of insects as a source of protein is becoming an important factor for feeding an increasing population. After protein extraction for food use, the insect exoskeleton may offer the possibility for the production of added value products. Here, the aim was to isolate bacteria from the surface of farmed mealworms (Tenebrio molitor Linnaeus, 175...

Chitinous material was extracted from brown crab (Cancer pagarus) shell waste using traditional chemical methods as well as microbial fermentation for life cycle analysis (LCA) and to compare differences in recovery levels and quality. Chemical extraction used 1 mol l–1 hydrochloric acid for demineralization and 1 mol l–1 sodium hydroxide for depro...

The gut of the human neonate is colonized rapidly after birth from an early sparse and highly distinct microbiota to a more adult-like and convergent state, within 1 to 3 years. The progression of colonizing bacterial species is non-random. During the first months of life several shifts commonly occur in the species prevalent in our guts. Although...

The gut of the human neonate is colonized rapidly after birth from an early sparse and highly distinct microbiota to a more adult-like and convergent state, within 1 to 3 years. The progression of colonizing bacterial species is non-random. During the first months of life several shifts commonly occur in the species prevalent in our guts. Although...

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most prevalent infections in humans. In ≥80% of cases, the etiologic agents are strains of uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC), which commonly reside in the gastrointestinal tract. Lactobacilli have been shown to prevent UTI reoccurrence by restoring the urogenital microbiota when administered vaginally...

Chitin ist eines der am häufigsten vorkommenden Biopolymere der Erde. Große Mengen dieses Rohstoffes können aus Schalenresten der Fischerei-Industrie gewonnen werden. Allerdings sind die etablierten chemischen Technologien mit hohen Umweltbelastungen verbunden. Die mikrobiologische Fermentation und der Einsatz von Enzymen zur Gewinnung des Polymers...

From crustacean to cream Chitin is one of the most abundant biopolymers on earth and can be obtained in large quantities from shell waste from the fishing industry. However, established chemical technologies are hazardous to human health and the environment due to the use of highly acidic and alkali conditions. Microbiological fermentation and the...

In this study, a duplex qPCR assay was developed for the needs of the Irish fish industry to screen for the two major food-borne pathogens of fish, Listeria monocytogenes and Escherichia coli O157:H7. The assay can claim positive or negative results for two pathogens in one go in only 20 hours including 16 hour universal pre-enrichment and compared...

We found that the relatively simple microbiota of young infants shifts predictably to a more mature anaerobic microbiota during infancy and the dynamics of this shift are influenced by environmental factors. In this longitudinal study of 75 infants, we demonstrate high interindividual variability within the normal range of birth outcomes, especiall...

AimsTo isolate bacteria from soil for the purpose of microbial pre-treatment of brown crab (Cancer pagurus) shell waste and the production of chitin.Methods and ResultsIsolates were screened for protease enzymes and acid production in order to facilitate the removal of protein and calcium carbonate fractions from brown crab shell to yield a chitino...

α-Lactalbumin (α-la) is a major whey protein found in milk. Previous data suggested that α-la has antiproliferative effects in human adenocarcinoma cell lines such as Caco-2 and HT-29. However, the cell death inducing α-la was not a naturally occurring monomer but either a multimeric variant or an α-la:oleic acid complex (HAMLET/BAMLET). Proteolysi...

The marine environment is a diverse source of compounds which, through the use of biotechnology, yield a great variety of new products for industrial development. To date, thousands of unique chemical compounds for use in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, nutritional supplements, molecular probes, enzymes, fine chemicals, and agrichemicals have been iden...

The marine lithistid sponge Discodermia spp. (Family Theonellidae) contains many types of associated bacteria visible in the mesohyl while biofilms cover the pinacoderm. This study determined the identity of bacteria associated with members of the genus Discodermia using microbial culture, 16S rRNA gene clone libraries and fluorescence in situ hybr...

Marine sediments and sponges may show steep variations in redox potential, providing niches for both aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms. Geodia spp. and sediment specimens from the Straits of Florida were fixed using paraformaldehyde and 95% ethanol (v/v) for fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). In addition, homogenates of sponge and sedime...

We recently reported that the biosynthesis of fuscol, a diterpene from the octocoral Eunicea fusca, is inducible by the application of plant signaling factors such as salicylic acid to the coral's algal symbiont. In this study, an mRNA differential display approach has been employed with the dinoflagellate symbiont of this octocoral which has led t...

Legal restrictions, high costs and environmental problems regarding the disposal of marine processing wastes have led to amplified interest in biotechnology research concerning the identification and extraction of additional high grade, low-volume by-products produced from shellfish waste treatments. Shellfish waste consisting of crustacean exoskel...

Due to their unique chemical characteristics (including biodegradability to non-toxic products, physiological inertness and hydrophilicity), chitin, chitosan and their derivatives may be expansively utilized in the biotechnological, agricultural, food protection and nutraceutical, medicinal and pharmacological fields and in the areas of bioremediat...

The lithistid sponge Discodermia dissoluta (family Theonellidae), is found in deep-waters throughout the Caribbean sea and is the source of discodermolide, a natural product with potential anticancer properties, and other secondary metabolites. As with other sponges, large numbers of microbes are harbored in the sponge mesohyl. The microbial popula...

This study examined the symbiotic microbiota of the hexacoral Cirrhipathes lutkeni using traditional plate culture, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and 16S rDNA characterization. FISH counts for the whole coral (holobiont) showed a major presence of gamma-Proteobacteria (22%) and Actinobacteria (19%), followed by alpha-Proteobacteria (14%...

This study examined the microbiota associated with the marine azooxanthellate octocorals Leptogorgia minimata, Swiftia exertia, and Iciligorgia schrammi collected from moderate depths (45 m). Traditional aerobic plate culture, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), and molecular identification of the 16S rDNA region were used for this purpose....

Certain milk factors may promote the growth of a host-friendly gastrointestinal microbiota, for example, one that is predominated by bifidobacteria, a perceived health-promoting genus. This may explain why breast-fed infants experience fewer intestinal infections than their formula-fed counterparts who are believed to have a more diverse microbiota...

Sponges are the dominant organisms on many coral reefs and through feeding they may greatly reduce the concentration of suspended food particles. Retention efficiencies of the tubular sponges Aplysina lacunosa, Callyspongia vaginalis and Niphates digitalis were examined on a coral reef located in the Florida Keys. Replicate ambient and exhalant wat...

Two milk components, alpha-lactalbumin (alpha-La) and glycomacropeptide (GMP) may inhibit intestinal infection/intoxification. (3)[H] thymidine-labeled enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC), Salmonella typhimurium (ATCC 6994) or Shigella flexneri (ATCC 9199) were introduced to CaCo-2 cultures and their association with CaCo-2 cells was assessed....

There is increasing awareness that the human gut microflora plays a critical role in maintaining host health, both within the gastrointestinal tract and, through the absorption of metabolites, systemically. An "optimal" gut microflora establishes an efficient barrier to the invasion and colonisation of the gut by pathogenic bacteria, produces a ran...

Certain milk factors may help to promote the growth of a host-friendly colonic microflora (e.g. bifidobacteria, lactobacilli) and explain why breast-fed infants experience fewer and milder intestinal infections than those who are formula-fed. The effects of supplementation of formula with two such milk factors was investigated in this study. Infant...

Objectives: Certain milk factors may help to promote the growth of a host-friendly colonic microflora (e.g. bifidobacteria, lactobacilli) and explain why breast-fed infants experience fewer and milder intestinal infections than those who are formula-fed. The effects of supplementation of formula with two such milk factors was investigated in this s...

Objectives Certain milk factors may help to promote the growth of a host‐friendly colonic microflora (e.g. bifidobacteria, lactobacilli) and explain why breast‐fed infants experience fewer and milder intestinal infections than those who are formula‐fed. The effects of supplementation of formula with two such milk factors was investigated in this st...

Certain milk factors may promote the growth of a gastrointestinal microflora predominated by bifidobacteria and may aid in overcoming enteric infections. This may explain why breast-fed infants experience fewer intestinal infections than their formula-fed counterparts. The effect of formula supplementation with two such factors was investigated in...

Certain milk factors can promote the growth of a host-friendly gastrointestinal microflora. This may explain why breast-fed infants experience fewer intestinal infections than their formula-fed counterparts. The effect of formula supplementation with two such factors was investigated in this study. Infant faecal specimens were used to ferment formu...