NRI welcomes nutrition specialists for 5th annual short course
KANNAPOLIS, NORTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES, May 18, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The UNC Nutrition Research Institute (NRI), in collaboration with the UNC Nutrition and Obesity Research Center (NORC), will hold its annual workshop on Nutrigenetics, Nutrigenomics, and Precision Nutrition, kicking off May 19-20 via online platform.
The UNC Nutrition Research Institute, a unit of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is dedicated to answering questions of how genes and diet interact (the science fields of nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics, “NGx”), and how we can use these answers to develop a precision nutrition approach that maximizes each individual’s health. NGx research spans scientific concepts ranging from cell biology to dietetics. The NRI created this annual workshop to aid in the translation of research results from laboratories to populations and to enable interdisciplinary communication by bringing together graduate students, health professionals. and nutrition scientists from academia and industry. Pre-pandemic, the workshop took place over four days on the North Carolina Research Campus. This year, participants will complete six half-days of coursework virtually over the span of three weeks.
Lecture topics include introductions to genetics and nutritional epidemiology; applications of NGx to cancer, cardiovascular disease, and cognitive development; nutritional epigenetics; nutritional metabolomics and microbiome; and clinical research. “This workshop is an excellent platform for students, researchers and health professionals to get exposed to an evolving and interesting science,” says NRI principal investigator and workshop director Saroja Voruganti, PhD.
The keynote address, by Elizabeth J. Parks, PhD, Professor in the Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, will be an opportunity for students and junior researchers to hear from a leading investigator in the field. Among the presenters are professors from the departments of Nutrition, Genetics, Epidemiology, Psychology and Neuroscience, School of Pharmacy, and the Nutrition Research Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill; UNC Charlotte; Western Human Nutrition Research Center, USDA-ARS; Instituto Nacional de Medicina Genomica; and University of Missouri.
An additional feature of this workshop is the inclusion of interactive sessions where attendees will learn how to analyze and interpret genetic data. The general per-person cost to attend is $200; postdoctoral fellows $100; graduate students $50. Registered Dietitians (RD) can earn up to 24.5 CPEU credits with this course. Because of the importance of training future scientists, the NRI offered fee scholarships to eligible graduate students and postdocs.
“We all are metabolically different, and this means we differ in our requirements for nutrients,” says Steven H. Zeisel, MD, PhD, Nutrition Research Institute director. “One of the important reasons for these differences comes from variations in the spelling of our genes which we inherited from our ancestors; we each have more than 50,000. This workshop teaches health professionals and scientists how to look for these genetic variations and how to determine which are important.”
This annual short course in Nutrigenetics, Nutrigenomics and Precision Nutrition is organized and produced by the UNC Nutrition Research Institute. We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the following: North Carolina Biotechnology Center; Standard Process; CRDF Global Fogarty International Center Cross Border Collaboration Award program (OISE-9531011); National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R13DK129024); and Castle & Cooke North Carolina.
About the UNC Nutrition Research Institute
The UNC Nutrition Research Institute’s mission is to advance the field of precision nutrition by investigating how genetics, gut microbiota, and environment affect an individual’s requirements for and responses to nutrients. Every person is metabolically unique. The NRI is dedicated to finding out how these differences affect an individual’s health so that current one-size-fits-all dietary guidelines can be replaced with customized nutritional recommendations and actions to improve a person’s health and quality of life.
For more information on the Nutrition Research Institute, future courses or to schedule an interview, contact Suzanne Dane, Director of Community Outreach and Development.
The UNC Nutrition Research Institute, a unit of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is dedicated to answering questions of how genes and diet interact (the science fields of nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics, “NGx”), and how we can use these answers to develop a precision nutrition approach that maximizes each individual’s health. NGx research spans scientific concepts ranging from cell biology to dietetics. The NRI created this annual workshop to aid in the translation of research results from laboratories to populations and to enable interdisciplinary communication by bringing together graduate students, health professionals. and nutrition scientists from academia and industry. Pre-pandemic, the workshop took place over four days on the North Carolina Research Campus. This year, participants will complete six half-days of coursework virtually over the span of three weeks.
Lecture topics include introductions to genetics and nutritional epidemiology; applications of NGx to cancer, cardiovascular disease, and cognitive development; nutritional epigenetics; nutritional metabolomics and microbiome; and clinical research. “This workshop is an excellent platform for students, researchers and health professionals to get exposed to an evolving and interesting science,” says NRI principal investigator and workshop director Saroja Voruganti, PhD.
The keynote address, by Elizabeth J. Parks, PhD, Professor in the Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, will be an opportunity for students and junior researchers to hear from a leading investigator in the field. Among the presenters are professors from the departments of Nutrition, Genetics, Epidemiology, Psychology and Neuroscience, School of Pharmacy, and the Nutrition Research Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill; UNC Charlotte; Western Human Nutrition Research Center, USDA-ARS; Instituto Nacional de Medicina Genomica; and University of Missouri.
An additional feature of this workshop is the inclusion of interactive sessions where attendees will learn how to analyze and interpret genetic data. The general per-person cost to attend is $200; postdoctoral fellows $100; graduate students $50. Registered Dietitians (RD) can earn up to 24.5 CPEU credits with this course. Because of the importance of training future scientists, the NRI offered fee scholarships to eligible graduate students and postdocs.
“We all are metabolically different, and this means we differ in our requirements for nutrients,” says Steven H. Zeisel, MD, PhD, Nutrition Research Institute director. “One of the important reasons for these differences comes from variations in the spelling of our genes which we inherited from our ancestors; we each have more than 50,000. This workshop teaches health professionals and scientists how to look for these genetic variations and how to determine which are important.”
This annual short course in Nutrigenetics, Nutrigenomics and Precision Nutrition is organized and produced by the UNC Nutrition Research Institute. We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the following: North Carolina Biotechnology Center; Standard Process; CRDF Global Fogarty International Center Cross Border Collaboration Award program (OISE-9531011); National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (R13DK129024); and Castle & Cooke North Carolina.
About the UNC Nutrition Research Institute
The UNC Nutrition Research Institute’s mission is to advance the field of precision nutrition by investigating how genetics, gut microbiota, and environment affect an individual’s requirements for and responses to nutrients. Every person is metabolically unique. The NRI is dedicated to finding out how these differences affect an individual’s health so that current one-size-fits-all dietary guidelines can be replaced with customized nutritional recommendations and actions to improve a person’s health and quality of life.
For more information on the Nutrition Research Institute, future courses or to schedule an interview, contact Suzanne Dane, Director of Community Outreach and Development.
Suzanne Dane
University of North Carolina
+1 704-250-5078
suzanne_dane@unc.edu
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