|
Dr. William E. (“Bill”) Sandine, professor emeritus of microbiology at Oregon State University and a pioneering developer of applied manufacturing methods for cultured dairy products that are widely used throughout the world today, has been named the 2009 National Dairy Shrine Guest of Honor. The prestigious award is given each year to salute a contemporary leader for his or her outstanding achievements and contributions that benefit the dairy industry.
Dr. William Sandine
During his more than 40 years as a faculty member at OSU, Dr. Sandine was embraced by both colleagues and his more than 70 graduate students for the way he focused on practical, “real-world” problems faced by dairy product manufacturers, the upbeat team approach he took to solving them, and his penchant for sharing credit with others for the successes – of which there were many.
Among the 26 significant patents he is credited with, two have been licensed by OSU and have earned more than a million dollars in royalties for the university. One involved the use of metabolites produced by bacteria used in the manufacture of Swiss cheese that extend the shelf life of acidic foods such as cottage cheese, salad dressings, and sausage. Another involved the use of a timed-release neutralizer that allows starter bacteria that is used to inoculate milk for cheese making to grow to higher densities and escape acid injury. His teams also isolated malo-lactic fermenting cultures for use by wine makers.
Another landmark technology developed under Dr. Sandine’s tenure, called the “defined strain technique,” transformed a technical aspect of cheese manufacturing through the selection of bacterial strains that are resistant to the bacteriophage virus. Although this virus had long been a plague to cheese makers, it was unable to attack the select strains. As a result, this technology largely eliminated “dead” vats of cheese milk or low grades of cheese that bacteriophage produced, thereby saving cheese makers around the world untold millions of dollars. Oregon’s largest cheese producer, Tillamook County Creamery Association, saved over $1 million alone during the first year it used the technology. This prompted several other cheese makers in the Pacific Northwest to ask to also use it which ultimately had such a serious impact on sales of the commercial starters then in use that the largest producer of starters paid a visit to OSU to buy the technology.
Prior to development and worldwide adoption of defined strain technology, commercial starter companies sold hundreds of frozen concentrates of unknown mixtures of bacterial strains for use in inoculating milk for cheese making. The defined strain program changed all of that and put strain selection on a precise scientific basis. Other researchers had previously attempted to do this many times, but Dr. Sandine’s team succeeded in developing a unique selection agar plating procedure by which they could identify the one-in-a-billion or so virus-resistant cells that would grow on plates and could be selected and grown in pure cultures.
Dr. Sandine insists, however, that, “To my mind an even greater impact has been my sacred opportunity to serve as mentor and major professor to over 70 graduate students for advanced degrees obtained from Oregon State University. Many still serve the dairy industry, and several others are now faculty members at institutions of higher education.”
Dr. Sandine received his bachelors degree from Iowa State University in 1950; was a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force from 1951-53; received his masters from North Carolina State University in 1955; received his PhD from Oregon State University in 1958; taught at OSU from 1958-59; and did post-doctoral study at the University of Illinois from 1959-60. He returned to OSU in 1960 and remained there until his retirement in 1996. During his career, he authored more than 200 publications in refereed scientific journals and was awarded the university’s highest professorial rank: distinguished professor. Among his many career achievements, awards, and professional positions are:
• President, vice-president, and board member of the American Dairy Science Association
• American Dairy Science Association Pioneer Award recipient
• USDA Award of Honor recipient
• State of Oregon Legislative Award for Excellence in Research, Scholarship and Teaching recipient
• Journal of Dairy Science Editorial Board member
• Sigma Xi Research Award recipient
• American Academy for Microbiology Fellow
• Pfizer Award recipient
• Dairy Research Foundation Award recipient
• American Society for Microbiology “Fisher Award” recipient
• Institute of Food Technologists “Industrial Achievement Award” recipient
• American Dairy Products Institute “Nordica Award” recipient
• International Association of Milk, Food, and Environmental Sanitarians “Educator Award” recipient
• Oregon Dairy Industry Hall of Fame member
• Oregon State University Alumni Fellow
• Honorary Doctor of Philosophy Degree from the National University of Tucuman in Argentina
[Go Back]
|
