Jacob Waitkus, a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in UC Riverside’s Chemical and Environmental Engineering Ph.D. program, has received a $120,000 USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Predoctoral Fellowship to support his research on rapid detection methods for antimicrobial resistance. The two-year award supports Waitkus’ project, “Development of Novel Nanopillar Metasurfaces for the Detection of Antimicrobial Resistance Signatures in Food Samples,” from May 1, 2026, through April 30, 2028.
Waitkus’ research focuses on developing a sensing platform that combines engineered silicon nanopillar metasurfaces with plasmonic sensing to identify biomarkers associated with antimicrobial resistance. The project is designed to detect enzymes and genetic signatures that allow bacteria to resist antibiotics, with potential applications in complex samples such as milk, blood, and urine.
Antimicrobial resistance is a growing challenge for food safety and human health. According to the USDA project record, rapid and sensitive detection of antimicrobial resistance can help identify microbial contaminants, including antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can move between livestock, crops, and people. The project will focus in part on resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics, a widely used class that includes penicillin, amoxicillin, and cephalexin.
The proposed platform uses nanoscale structures that interact with light. By monitoring changes in the reflected light signal, the system aims to detect whether antibiotic-resistance enzymes or gene markers are present in a sample. The long-term goal is to support faster and more sensitive detection strategies that could improve food safety decisions and reduce delays in identifying ineffective antibiotic treatments.
“Earning this fellowship is a fantastic honor that I am grateful to have been awarded,” Waitkus said. “Working in antibiotic biosensing applications for the last four years, it is rewarding to see the value put into improving human health and food quality beyond my beliefs. I hope this project can continue to blossom into a truly useful detection platform alongside the support of the USDA, the 3N Lab, and UCR as a whole!”
Waitkus conducts his research alongside his advisor Dr. Ke Du, whose Nanobiosensing, Nanomanufacturing, and Nanomaterials Lab at UC Riverside focuses on molecular diagnostics, bioimaging, and nanotoxicology.
For Waitkus, the fellowship represents both professional recognition and a personal milestone. He said the award validates the importance of studying antibiotic resistance while underscoring the need for continued research into the misuse and overuse of common antibiotics.
“Being awarded this fellowship is a great honor professionally, as it validates the importance of not only my research into studying antibiotic resistance, but the need for continuous research surrounding the misuse and overuse of popular antibiotics,” Waitkus said. “Personally, I am overjoyed to have achieved this distinguished fellowship after collaborating with my PI Dr. Ke Du to form this sensing platform.”
Waitkus credited Du, the Chemical and Environmental Engineering department, and the Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering for supporting his development as a researcher.
“My advisor Dr. Ke Du has been instrumental to my success thus far in guiding the ambitious and lofty goals that I set out to achieve,” Waitkus said. “Through my master’s degree to now in my Ph.D. studies, he and his lab have provided me endless support and opportunities to expand my skillset, network within my research field, and investigate research areas that I am passionate about.”
The fellowship will allow Waitkus to continue advancing a detection platform that connects nanoscale engineering with public health and food safety needs, while supporting his growth as an emerging researcher in biosensing and antimicrobial resistance.