The Pasteur Institute in Paris, the international center for Salmonella, has confirmed that a new serotype has been discovered at Texas Tech University. Salmonella Lubbock will be the newest entry in the Salmonella Atlas, published periodically by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. The research that led to the discovery of the new Salmonella Lubbock was intended to reduce the likelihood of Salmonella in food. TTU’s Marie Bugarel, Ph.D., a research assistant professor in the Department of Animal and Food Sciences in the College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources, focused on Salmonella control in cattle. Her work has improved understanding of the biological makeup of Salmonella, including its genetic structure, and that led to the discovery. New serotypes are named after the city where they are discovered, which brought about Salmonella Lubbock. TTU officials say Bugarel’s research holds promise for reducing Salmonella in beef, pork, and chicken products. Her work has already led to a patent application related to early detection of the pathogen. According to CDC, serotyping has been the core of public health monitoring of Salmonella infections for more than 50 years: “Now, scientists use DNA testing to further divide each serotype into more subtypes and to detect more outbreaks. With the next generation of sequencing technology, advancements continue as the laboratory can find information about the species, serovar, and subtype of bacteria in just one test. Currently, at least two scientists must generate these three important pieces of information using three separate tests or more.” CDC has already logged more than 2,500 Salmonella serotypes. Most are rare and not much is known about them, although there are about 100 that account for most human infections. For those serotypes, their role is important because they help trace outbreaks to the source.