Volker Mai

Assistant Professor

Department of Microbiology and Cell Science,  University of Florida

Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida  

M.P.H. (2000) Master of Public Health, Quantitative Methods, Harvard School of Public Health

Ph.D. (1999) Department of Microbiology, University of Georgia

Teaching Interest

My teaching interests include "Molecular Biology Applications in the Public Health Sciences", "Beneficial and Pathogenic Microbes", and "Cancer Epidemiology". Furthermore, I'm interested in helping students pursue individual research projects in the laboratory.

Description of Research

Our main research interest is in the associations between diet, composition of the intestinal microbiota and human health/disease. A special emphasis of the lab is on colorectal carcinogenesis and the mechanisms contributing to the increased burden of this disease in African Americans. In our studies we are using animal cancer models as well as epidemiological approaches in human populations.

An important part of our research is the determination of the diversity and the dynamics of the gut microbiota in healthy as well as in diseased subjects. In an animal models of intestinal carcinogenesis our group has begun to investigate how diet affects the composition of the bacterial microbiota and how both, diet and microbiota, are associated with intestinal carcinogenesis.

Our group is also involved in developing and applying molecular methods and metagenomic approaches for the detection of novel diarrhea pathogens in developing countries in Africa and Asia. In close collaboration with local researchers we are establishing a large repository of community DNA extracted from stools of healthy subjects and from patients suffering from severe diarrhea.  

Our lab welcomes students for lab rotations and summer programs, allowing them to gain firsthand experience in a medically oriented research lab.

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Selected Publications

• M.Engle, Y.Li, F.Rainey, S.DeBlois, V.Mai, A.Reichert, F.Mayer, P.Messner, and J.Wiegel. Thermobrachium celere gen. nov. sp. nov., a rapidly growing thermophilic, alkalitolerant, and proteolytic obligate anaerobe. International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology. 1996; 46:1025-1033

• V.Mai, W.Lorenz and J.Wiegel. Transformation of Thermoanaerobacterium JW/SL-YS485 with plasmid pIKM1 conferring kanamycin resistance. FEMS Microbiology Letters. 1997; 148:163-167

• V.Mai, W.Lorenz, J.Wiegel Advances in the development of a genetic

• system for Thermoanaerobacterium: Expression of genes encoding hydrolytic  enzymes, development of a second shuttle vector, and integration of genes into the chromosome. Applied and Environmental Microbiology  2000;66:4817-482

• V.Mai, J.Wiegel, W.Lorenz . Cloning and expression of a novel bifunctional xylosidase/arabinosidase from Thermoanaerobacter ethanolicus JW200. Gene. 2000; 247:137-143

• V. Mai, A. Flood, U. Peters, J. V. Lacey Jr., C. Schairer, and A. Schatzkin. Dietary fiber and risk of colorectal cancer in the Breast Cancer Detection Demonstration  Project (BCDDP) Follow-up cohort. Cancer Causes and Control. International Journal of Epidemiology. 2003; 32:234-239

• V. Mai, L. Colbert, D. Berrigan, J.  Lavigne, S. N. Perkins, R. Pfeiffer, E. Lanza, D.C. Haines, A. Schatzkin, S. D. Hursting. Calorie restriction and Diet Composition Modulate Spontaneous Intestinal Tumorigenesis in ApcMin Mice Through Different Mechanisms. Cancer Research. 2003; 63:1752-1755

• L. Colbert, V.Mai, S. Perkins, D. Berrigan, J. Lavigne, H. Wimbrow, P.Srinivas, S. Hursting Exercise and intestinal polyp development in APCMin mice. Medical Science Sport and Exercise. 2003;35:1662-1669

• V. Mai, H.A. Katki, H. Harmsen, D. Gallaher, A. Schatzkin, D. J. Baer, B. Clevidence. Effects of a controlled diet and black tea drinking on the fecal microflora composition and the fecal bile acid profile of human volunteers in a double-blinded randomized feeding study. Journal of Nutrition. 2004;134:473-478

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• V. Mai, J.G. Morris. Colonic Bacterial Flora: Changing Understandings in the Molecular Age. Journal of Nutrition. 2004;134:459-464

• V. Mai Dietary Modification of Intestinal Microbiota. Nutrition Reviews. 2004; 62: 235-242

• V. Mai, A. K. Kant, A. Flood, J.V. Lacey Jr., C. Schairer, and A. Schatzkin. Diet quality and subsequent cancer incidence and mortality in a prospective cohort of women. International Journal of Epidemiology. 2005;34:54-60

• J. Nataro, V. Mai, J. Johnson, W.C. Blackwelder, R. Heimer, S. Tirrell, S.E. Edberg, C.R. Braden, J.G. Morris Jr., J.M. Hirshon. Diarrheagenic E. coli in Baltimore and New Haven. Clinical Infectious Diseases 2006; 43(4):402-7

• H. Trachtman, E. Christen, A. Cnaan, J. Patrick, V. Mai, J. Mishra, A. Jain, N. Bullington, P. Devarajan. Urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalcin in D+HUS: a novel marker of renal injury. Pediatric Nephrology (accepted)

• L. H. Colbert, V. Mai, J. A. Tooze, S. N. Perkins, David Berrigan, S.D. Hursting. Voluntary Wheel Running Inhibits Polyp Development in APCmin Mice. Carcinogenesis 2006;27(10):2103-7

• N.A. Cornick, A.F. Helgerson, V. Mai, V. Sharma, J.M. Ritchie and D.W.K. Acheson. In vivo transduction of stx-encoding phage in ruminants. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 2006:72:5086-5088

  V. Mai, B. Greenwald, J. G. Morris, Jr., JP Raufman, O. C. Stine. Effect of bowel preparation and colonoscopy on post-procedure intestinal microbiota composition. Gut 2006;55(12):1822-3

• V. Mai, C.R. Braden, J.Heckendorf, B. Pironis, J.M.Hirschon. Monitoring of stool microbiota in subjects with diarrhea indicates distortions in its composition. Clin. Microbiol. 2006;44(12):4550-2

• J.C. Lunn, G. Kuhnle, V. Mai, C. Frankenfeld, D.E. Shuker, R.C. Glen, J.M. Goodman, J.R. Pollock, S.A.Bingham. The effect of haem in red and processed meat on the endogenous formation of N-nitroso compounds in the upper gastrointestinal tract. Carcinogenesis. 2006 Oct 19; [Epub ahead of print]

• V. Mai, L. H. Colbert, S. N. Perkins, A. Schatzkin, S.D. Hursting. Intestinal Microbiota: A Potential Diet-Responsive Prevention Target in ApcMin mice. Molecular Carcinogenesis. 2007; 46(1):42-8

• A. Flood, V. Mai, R. Pfeiffer, L. Kahle, A. T. Remaley, C. J. Rosen, E. Lanza, A. Schatzkin. The Effects of a High-Fruit and Vegetable, High-Fiber, Low-Fat Dietary Intervention on Serum Concentrations of Insulin, Glucose, IGF-I, and IGFBP-3. European Journal Clin. Nutr. (accepted)

• A. Flood, V. Mai, R. Pfeiffer, L. Kahle, A. T. Remaley, E. Lanza, A. Schatzkin. Elevated serum concentrations of insulin and glucose increase risk of recurrent of colorectal adenomas. Gastroenterology. (accepted)

• B. Peters, Q. Lin, Q. McCrary, V.Mai. Similar microbiota composition in lean and obese individuals. (in preparation)

• V. Mai, Q. McCrary, Q. Lin, R. Sinha, C. Boushey. Differences in diet, microbiota composition and fecal mutagenicity between African American and Caucasian American residents of the Eastern shore of Maryland. (in preparation)

• V. Mai, H. Harmsen, G. Welling, B. Peters, S. Gill, J. Nataro, J.G. Morris, C. Stine. Comparison of results from conventional cultivation, denaturing gel electrophoresis, fluorescent in situ hybridization, qPCR, 16S rRNA library sequencing and shot gun library sequencing in the analysis of fecal microbiota from human volunteer. (in preparation)

• V. Mai, K. Winters, Q. Lin, D. Gordon, D. Baer. Effects of Fibersol supplementation on gut microbiota composition and association between gut microbiota and energy gain in a controlled crossover feeding study. (in preparation).

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