Recipient Organization
UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA
(N/A)
CHAPEL HILL,NC 27514
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Gene-diet interactions can play a major role in health, both through dietary modification of gene expression (nutrigenomics) and through the effects of individual genetic variation of genes involved in nutrient metabolism (nutrigenetics) (NGx). Because "NGx" research and application areas span from basic research to clinical practice, it can be difficult for researchers and clinicians trained in one area to appreciate results emanating from another area. Thus, the lack of awareness of important NGx research impairs translation to clinical practice, and an underappreciation of clinical findings masks the significance of results from basic research studies. The Nutrigenetics, Nutrigenomics, and Precision Nutrition workshop provides a unique opportunity for attendees to discover the cutting edge of precision nutrition and to learn how to translate and leverage information spanning basic research to clinical applications for their own work.The workshop, first held in 2016, has been highly successful and attended by 60-90 persons with diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise, ranging from biochemistry to food science to bioinformatics to clinical practice. The workshop brings together senior and junior scientists who would not normally meet or interact. Collectively, the workshop is highly translational with lecture topics including introductions to genetics and nutritional epidemiology, applications of NGx to obesity, cancer, CVD, and cognitive development, nutritional epigenetics, clinical research and (nutri) pharmacogenomics. An additional feature of this workshop is the inclusion of interactive hands-on sessions where attendees learn how to analyze and interpret their own genetic data.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
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Applied
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Developmental
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Goals / Objectives
The main goal of this workshop-styled short coursein Nutrigenetics, Nutrigenomics, and Precision Nutrition is to provide researchers and practitioners with the fundamental knowledge to understand diet-genome interactions and to apply this understanding to enhance health. To achieve this goal we propose the folliwng aims:1. Educate current and future researchers and clinicians in the scientific fields of nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics.2. To provide topical and cutting-edge research directions and methodologies in precision nutrition, including both basic research and clinical applications.3. Bring together students, postdocs, faculty, industry researchers, and clinicians in an inclusiveenvironment to foster interactions and networking.This workshop is unique in being a short, in-depth, hands-on educational opportunity in nutrigenetics and nutrigenomics with clear applications towards precision nutrition.
Project Methods
The Workshop in Nutrigenetics, Nutrigenomics, and Precision Nutrition spans four days, with the final day ending at noon. Morning sessions are presented as 35-minute lectures with 10 minutes allotted for discussion. Afternoon sessions on days one and three are hands-on workshops where attendees learn genotype/phenotype analysis using the freely available PLINK toolset and their own genotype data. The afternoon on day two is left free for a group activity.The 2024 schedule will offer beginner and advanced afternoon workshops. The syllabus was carefully chosen to provide (1) an introduction to NGx suitable to an audience with varied backgrounds (2) current methodology in NGx, including translational impact, (3) health implications of NGx (obesity, CVD, cancer, cognition), and (4) mechanisms underlying NGx effects (methylation, epigenetics, microRNAs, nutrient and micronutrient metabolism). Many of these topics (e.g., obesity, precision nutrition & precision health, including nutrition/health disparities) are core elements of the USDA, NIFA, and AFRI missions. Faculty with expertise in these areas are selected from UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Charlotte, USDA and UC Davis, Texas Tech and Harvard Universities. Dr. Tejero, a faculty at the Institute of Genomic Medicine, Mexico City, Mexico, was a visiting scholar at the NRI in summer of 2016.