Jae-Hyuk Yu, Ph.D., is Professor of Bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a principal investigator at the Food Research Institute. His research applies Aspergillus oryzae — a fungus used for thousands of years to produce traditional foods like sake and miso — to modern food safety challenges. Growing A. oryzae in different food-grade media has led the Yu lab to two applied technology platforms: D-Tox™, a food-grade system for aflatoxin degradation; and Natural Preservative™ (NP™), a broad-spectrum antimicrobial fermentate positioned as a clean-label preservative for perishable foods. Various US, Korean, and international patent applications have been filed, managed through WARF. His work targets two of the food industry's most persistent and costly challenges — mycotoxin contamination and microbial spoilage — and has appeared in Microbiology Spectrum, mBio, Scientific Reports, and Journal of Dairy Science, among other leading journals. The lab is actively seeking industry partners for matrix validation, process scale-up, and regulatory-pathway development.