{"id":1136,"date":"2021-09-23T17:56:33","date_gmt":"2021-09-23T17:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/units.cals.ncsu.edu\/microbiology-graduate-program\/?page_id=1136"},"modified":"2026-01-27T15:51:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T15:51:20","slug":"dobrogosz-biogaia-graduate-fund","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/units.cals.ncsu.edu\/microbiology-graduate-program\/homepage\/dobrogosz-biogaia-graduate-fund\/","title":{"rendered":"Dobrogosz\/BioGaia Graduate Fund For Excellence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">History of Dr. <strong>Walter Dobrogosz<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr. Walter Dobrogosz,&nbsp;Professor Emeritus, was born in Albion, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania. He received his B.S., Masters and Ph.D. in&nbsp;bacteriology&nbsp;and&nbsp;biochemistry&nbsp;from&nbsp;Penn State University. In 1962, Dr. Dobrogosz started teaching at NC&#160;State, where he actively built a research and teaching program in microbial metabolism. In 1968, he became a full Professor of&nbsp;Microbiology and was one of the four core faculty responsible for establishing a Microbiology program at NCSU. He remained a professor at NC&#160;State until his retirement in 2003.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr. Dobrogosz is best known for his discovery and research on <em>Lactobacillus reuteri<\/em>, a lactic acid bacterium. After this discovery in 1985, Dr. Dobrogosz went to work with Sven Lindgren in Sweden on a Fulbright Fellowship, where they discovered a anti-microbial substance produced by <em>L. reuteri<\/em> that had great potential as a protective probiotic for humans. Dr. Dobrogosz and his fellows obtained patents on both the bacterium and the anti-microbial substance, reuterin, and later marketed&nbsp;<em>L. reuteri<\/em>&nbsp;for its benefits to human and animal health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 1987, he founded Probiologics International (PBI), a company devoted to the commercial uses of&nbsp;<em>L. reuteri<\/em>. Research performed at PBI showed that the bacterium is effective in preventing diarheal diseases and other gut infections.&nbsp;Today, <em>L. reuteri<\/em> is often found in yogurt or milk-based products worldwide due to its ability to maintain intestinal&nbsp;health, prevent&nbsp;certain&nbsp;infections and mediate immune responses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since retirement, Dr. Dobrogosz has remained an active advocate of the importance of microbes and probiotics in human health. He continues to publish review articles and lecturing at conferences on probiotic and microbiological research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ag Biotech Professional Forum - Animal Health: Dr. Walt Dobrogosz, North Carolina State University\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oXbR7W0vH2g?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/units.cals.ncsu.edu\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Dr. Walt Dobrogosz, North Carolina State University, discusses his work to establish animal probiotics as a commercial solution, as well as startup of BioGaia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Dobrogosz\/BioGaia Graduate Fund For Excellence<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This endowment was created to honor Dr. Dobrogosz in honor of his many contributions to NC&#160;State and microbial research.&nbsp;The endowment is made possible by our generous donors and directly benefits the Microbiology Graduate Programs (MGP) at NC&#160;State. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"ncstc-giving-form ncstc-giving-form-gray wp-block-heading\">Dobrogosz\/BioGaia Graduate Fund For Excellence<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-ncst-buttons ncstc-giving-form ncstc-giving-form-gray\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-ncst-button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.givecampus.com\/campaigns\/47387\/donations\/new?designation=019048\" class=\"btn ncst-block__button-link\" data-ncst-lightbox=\"false\" data-ua-cat=\"Button Block\" data-ua-action=\"Button Click\" data-ua-label=\"https:\/\/www.givecampus.com\/campaigns\/47387\/donations\/new?designation=019048\"><span class=\"text\">Give Now<\/span><span class=\"arrow-indicator\">\n<svg class=\"wp-block-ncst-wolficon wolficon\" role=\"img\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><use xlink:href=\"#wolficon-arrow-right-bold\" \/><\/svg>\n<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"alignfull has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\"><strong><strong>Dobrogosz\/BioGaia<\/strong><\/strong> Lectureship<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Info coming soon<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>History of Dr. Walter Dobrogosz Dr. Walter Dobrogosz,&nbsp;Professor Emeritus, was born in Albion, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania. He received his B.S., Masters and Ph.D. in&nbsp;bacteriology&nbsp;and&nbsp;biochemistry&nbsp;from&nbsp;Penn State University. In 1962, Dr. Dobrogosz started teaching at NC&#160;State, where he actively built a research and teaching program in microbial metabolism. In 1968, he became a&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"parent":6,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/floating-box-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"backgroundColor\":\"gray_800\",\"boxPosition\":\"right\",\"ctaNum\":\"one\",\"useCTA\":false,\"imageURL\":\"https:\/\/units.cals.ncsu.edu\/microbiology-graduate-program\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2021\/07\/ecoli-1.jpeg\",\"imageID\":224}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-1136","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/units.cals.ncsu.edu\/microbiology-graduate-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/units.cals.ncsu.edu\/microbiology-graduate-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/units.cals.ncsu.edu\/microbiology-graduate-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/units.cals.ncsu.edu\/microbiology-graduate-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/units.cals.ncsu.edu\/microbiology-graduate-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1136"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/units.cals.ncsu.edu\/microbiology-graduate-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2507,"href":"https:\/\/units.cals.ncsu.edu\/microbiology-graduate-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1136\/revisions\/2507"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/units.cals.ncsu.edu\/microbiology-graduate-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/units.cals.ncsu.edu\/microbiology-graduate-program\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}