Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center

Biography & Research Program
Suresh D. Pillai, Ph.D. is the Director of the National Center for Electron Beam Research at Texas A&M University. He is a Professor of Microbiology and Texas AgriLife Research Faculty Fellow at Texas A&M University. He holds a joint appointment in the Departments of Nutrition and Food Sciences and Poultry Science.

He directs the National Center for Electron Beam Research at Texas A&M University. The Center serves as an un-biased venue for academic, government, and industry scientists to carry out strategic electronic pasteurization and sterilization research using Electron Beam (E-beam) and X-rays.  The Center brings together academic, industry, and government researchers from across the United States and overseas to exploit E-Beam and X-ray technologies to benefit mankind in different areas. The Center actively promotes these technologies worldwide as part of its mission to harness E-Beam and X-ray technologies to “heal, clean, and feed the world, and beyond”.  The Center has developed solutions for the medical industry, wastewater industry and the food industry and is actively working with NASA to develop foods for long duration space missions.

His research focuses on bacterial cell-to-cell signaling, the molecular ecology of pathogens in natural and man-made ecosystems and the use of novel technologies to concentrate, detect, and decontaminate pathogens. His research on molecular microbial ecology and cell-cell signaling is targeted at understanding the complex and hitherto poorly understood relationship between microbial communities and human behavior. His research is aimed at understanding the role that the GI tract-associated microbiome has on human behavior. His research has been funded by federal agencies such as the USDA, Department of Defense, NASA, Department of Homeland Security, EPA, and a variety of private sources. He serves on the Editorial Board of scientific journals and on the Boards of a few private companies.

Dr. Pillai can serve as a major professor for the following degree programs at Texas A&M University

Food Science & Technology: M.S. & Ph.D

Poultry Science: M.S. & Ph.D.

Toxicology: MS. & Ph.D.

Water Management and Hydrological Science: M.S. & Ph.D.

Veterinary Pathobiology: M.S. & Ph.D.

Molecular ecology of pathogens in natural and man-made ecosystems such as foods and water. Novel microbial detection and decontamination technologies.