Rachel Dutton has bakers, chefs, and a pickler knocking at her door with questions. She is a microbiologist at Harvard University who has become a great resource for foodies who are interested in all things fermented. For a close look at what Dutton sees when she looks at cheese through her microscope click here:

Inside Harvard’s gleaming Northwest Science Building here, Ms. Dutton and two postdoctoral researchers, Benjamin Wolfe and Julie Button, have been culturing cheese samples for scientific scrutiny. In a large, open laboratory filled with beakers and centrifuges, the three work on isolating bacteria and fungi from cheese rinds, storing them in petri dishes in a modified refrigerator they call the cave.

Ms. Dutton, 32, started out as neither a cheesemaker nor a turophile (cheese lover). Her first love is science.

To read more about Dutton's involvement in the food world click here

For a glimpse through Dr. Dutton's microscope, see her microbial photo spread here.

Photo by calsidyrose