Investigating the Potential Risk of Untargeted Iron Supplementation Among Cambodian Women

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There is a lack of evidence on the safety of untargeted daily iron supplementation in women, especially in countries such as Cambodia, where both anemia and genetic hemoglobinopathies are common. Our aim is to assess biomarkers of potential adverse outcomes in Cambodian women who received daily oral iron supplements in accordance with the recent 2016 global WHO guidelines. The findings will provide critical data to inform the safety of the WHO global policy for untargeted iron supplementation for non-pregnant women worldwide.

Institution: University of British Columbia
Principal Investigator: Crystal Karakochuk, PhD
Year Awarded: 2018

The IAFNS Future Leader Award, given annually to promising nutrition and food scientists, allows new investigators the opportunity to add to an existing project or to conduct exploratory research that might not receive funding from other sources or add to an existing project. Consideration is given to individuals proposing research in the areas of experimental nutrition, nutrition and toxicology, and nutrition and food science. Grants extend for a period of 2 years at a funding level of $15,000 USD per year. Funds may not be used for overhead or to support the investigator’s salary.

View all Future Leader Award Recipients.

Nutritional and Probiotic Development for the Pre-Term Gut Microbiome

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The human intestine is home to dense and diverse communities of microorganisms, referred to as the gut microbiota. Ushered by the revolution in "omics," the microbiota is implicated in numerous health and disease states. Despite the growing recognition of the significance of the microbiota, there are fundamental aspects of the microbiota that are largely unexplored such as a higher order understanding of the interactions between the parts of this ecosystem: the individual members, the environment and host. A deep understanding of early-life, especially pre-term, gut microbial communities and the impact of nutrition is a scientific and public health priority. Preliminary findings suggest that cross-feeding and dependency on the carbohydrate enzymatic capabilities of co-resident members is an underappreciated means of survival in the gut. The goal of this study is to define carbohydrate-based interactions of early-life gut community members towards the goal of developing ecologically-rational, nutrition-based approaches to shape the neonatal microbiome towards health.

Institution:Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital
Principal Investigator: Seth Rakoff-Nahoum, MD, PhD
Year Awarded: 2018

The IAFNS Future Leader Award, given annually to promising nutrition and food scientists, allows new investigators the opportunity to add to an existing project or to conduct exploratory research that might not receive funding from other sources or add to an existing project. Consideration is given to individuals proposing research in the areas of experimental nutrition, nutrition and toxicology, and nutrition and food science. Grants extend for a period of 2 years at a funding level of $15,000 USD per year. Funds may not be used for overhead or to support the investigator’s salary.

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Vitamin B12 and Perinatal Health: Elucidating Mechanisms and Biomarkers for Prevention of Birth Defects

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Neural tube defects (NTDs) are one of the most common and severe birth defects in the United States and globally. Vitamin B12 deficiency and perturbations in one-carbon metabolism have been linked to common adverse pregnancy outcomes, including neural tube closure defects. Recent evidence from population studies have identified vitamin B12 deficiency as the leading nutritional risk factor for NTDs after folate. However, the biological mechanisms are unknown, and experimental and causal data are lacking. The scientific objective of this application is to elucidate the role of vitamin B12 in the etiology of neural tube defects, to inform the development of risk-predicting biomarkers and preventive interventions.

Institution: Cornell University
Principal Investigator: Julia Finkelstein, PhD
Year Awarded: 2017

The IAFNS Future Leader Award, given annually to promising nutrition and food scientists, allows new investigators the opportunity to add to an existing project or to conduct exploratory research that might not receive funding from other sources or add to an existing project. Consideration is given to individuals proposing research in the areas of experimental nutrition, nutrition and toxicology, and nutrition and food science. Grants extend for a period of 2 years at a funding level of $15,000 USD per year. Funds may not be used for overhead or to support the investigator’s salary.

View all Future Leader Award Recipients.

Dietary Patterns Associated with Cognition During Aging

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In 2011, 15% of Canadians 65 and older were living with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common form of dementia. Despite the fact that the cause of AD is not known, age and the presence of the epsilon 4 allele of apolipoprotein E (APOE4) are the most important risk factors.  Diet is central to health and some studies are emerging to establish relation between dietary patterns (DP) and chronic diseases instead of single nutrients or macronutrients. Our hypothesis is that the participants consuming a Prudent (healthy) diet have higher global cognition and verbal fluency than those consuming a Western profile and this is independent of age but dependent on APOE4 genotype. The goal of this study is to provide useful information to the food and nutrition industry to design appropriate foods that fits into the beneficial dietary patterns for those at risk for AD.

Institution: Université de Sherbrooke
Principal Investigator: Melanie Plourde, PhD
Year Awarded: 2017

The IAFNS Future Leader Award, given annually to promising nutrition and food scientists, allows new investigators the opportunity to add to an existing project or to conduct exploratory research that might not receive funding from other sources or add to an existing project. Consideration is given to individuals proposing research in the areas of experimental nutrition, nutrition and toxicology, and nutrition and food science. Grants extend for a period of 2 years at a funding level of $15,000 USD per year. Funds may not be used for overhead or to support the investigator’s salary.

View all Future Leader Award Recipients.

Demonstrating the Causal Beneficial Role of Microbes in Diet-Microbe-Host Interactions in Metabolic Disease

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Over the past decade there has been an exponentially growing number of reports that describe changes in the microbial populations in response to dietary intervention. These changes in the microbiota are then associated with health outcomes with limited understanding of what changes in the microbial population really mean. Very few reports have demonstrated the specific mechanism of causality in the microbial modifications and resulting host response. Our group has observed changes in the microbiome in conjunction with improved glucose control in response to the inclusion of pea seed coats, particularly those containing proanthocyanidins. In particular we have observed an increase in two distinct genera in response to peas containing proanothocyanidins, Parasutterella and Akkermansia. This project will combine dietary intervention with the defined microbial population model so as to directly test the role of specific microbial changes in health outcome. This is a highly unique approach to test causality in diet-microbe-host interactions. While this approach will be used as a means to specifically address the interaction between a single diet constituent and a couple of identified organisms, it will provide an invaluable model to test the role of microbial change in diet induced health outcomes.

Institution: University of Alberta
Principal Investigator: Benjamin Willing, PhD
Year Awarded: 2016

The IAFNS Future Leader Award, given annually to promising nutrition and food scientists, allows new investigators the opportunity to add to an existing project or to conduct exploratory research that might not receive funding from other sources or add to an existing project. Consideration is given to individuals proposing research in the areas of experimental nutrition, nutrition and toxicology, and nutrition and food science. Grants extend for a period of 2 years at a funding level of $15,000 USD per year. Funds may not be used for overhead or to support the investigator’s salary.

View all Future Leader Award Recipients.

Exploring Nutritional and Metabolomic Pathways Linking Chronic Stress and Childhood Obesity

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Chronic stress is a key risk factor for obesity and the accumulation of abdominal fat among children, which are harmful to long-term health. However, the mechanisms that underlie these relationships are poorly understood. This study will draw from a well-characterized cohort of children to provide some of the first data to explore two often-hypothesized, yet surprisingly relatively untested, pathways via which stress may lead to childhood obesity: excessive intake of "comfort foods" and perturbed metabolism. This work will identify novel child-level nutritional and biological responses to chronic stress.

Institution: University of Michigan
Principal Investigator: Katherine Bauer, PhD
Year Awarded: 2016

The IAFNS Future Leader Award, given annually to promising nutrition and food scientists, allows new investigators the opportunity to add to an existing project or to conduct exploratory research that might not receive funding from other sources or add to an existing project. Consideration is given to individuals proposing research in the areas of experimental nutrition, nutrition and toxicology, and nutrition and food science. Grants extend for a period of 2 years at a funding level of $15,000 USD per year. Funds may not be used for overhead or to support the investigator’s salary.

View all Future Leader Award Recipients.

Bacteriophage Engineering for Rapid Pathogen Detection

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The development of pragmatic rapid detection methods benefit the food manufacturer, retailer and consumer. It has been estimated that cost of foodborne illness from sickness, hospitalizations and deaths reaches $152 billion annually in the United States. Although the United States has one of the safest food supplies, there exists significant potential for improvement. The rapid detection of bacteria in foods and food processing environments could provide clear advantage in combating foodborne illness and food recalls. The goal of this project is to develop a method which can rapidly identify viable bacteria (E. coli) in several hours without pre-enrichment, which could ultimately lead to improved food safety.

Institution: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Principal Investigator: Sam Nugen, PhD
Year Awarded: 2015

The IAFNS Future Leader Award, given annually to promising nutrition and food scientists, allows new investigators the opportunity to add to an existing project or to conduct exploratory research that might not receive funding from other sources or add to an existing project. Consideration is given to individuals proposing research in the areas of experimental nutrition, nutrition and toxicology, and nutrition and food science. Grants extend for a period of 2 years at a funding level of $15,000 USD per year. Funds may not be used for overhead or to support the investigator’s salary.

View all Future Leader Award Recipients.

Perinatal Choline Status and Cognitive Function

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Perinatal nutrition plays a critical role in neurodevelopmental patterns, and specific periods of sensitivity have been identified during which deficiency of even a single nutrient can negatively impact long-term cognitive and behavioral measures. Recent human and rodent studies suggest provision of choline may help to not only support structural neurodevelopment, but also promote cognitive function, but dietary effects in these species can only be assessed after the vast majority of brain growth and development have occurred. The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of prenatal and early-postnatal choline deficiency on brain structure and function using the piglet.

Institution: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Principal Investigator: Ryan Dilger, PhD
Year Awarded: 2015

The IAFNS Future Leader Award, given annually to promising nutrition and food scientists, allows new investigators the opportunity to add to an existing project or to conduct exploratory research that might not receive funding from other sources or add to an existing project. Consideration is given to individuals proposing research in the areas of experimental nutrition, nutrition and toxicology, and nutrition and food science. Grants extend for a period of 2 years at a funding level of $15,000 USD per year. Funds may not be used for overhead or to support the investigator’s salary.

View all Future Leader Award Recipients.

Quantitative Modeling for Biomarker Assessment of Carbohydrate Metabolism

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It is now appreciated that the many pathways leading to oncogenesis result in changes in cellular metabolism and the ability of the tumors environmental nutritional state to directly couple to its capacity for growth. One of the first molecularly defined differences between normal tissue and cancerous growth was the observations that the tumor tissue exhibited dramatically enhanced abilities to uptake and process glucose — the predominant macronutrient for growing cells. Our understanding of metabolism is challenged by the enormous complexity of the interaction between metabolic pathways and the genetic aberrations that alter these pathways. This project will utilize the application of computational methods rooted in systems biology in conjunction with the use of mass spectrometry—based metabolomics to understand mechanisms surrounding altered metabolism in cancer cells and primary tumors.

Institution: Cornell University
Principal Investigator: Jason Locasale, PhD
Year Awarded: 2014

The IAFNS Future Leader Award, given annually to promising nutrition and food scientists, allows new investigators the opportunity to add to an existing project or to conduct exploratory research that might not receive funding from other sources or add to an existing project. Consideration is given to individuals proposing research in the areas of experimental nutrition, nutrition and toxicology, and nutrition and food science. Grants extend for a period of 2 years at a funding level of $15,000 USD per year. Funds may not be used for overhead or to support the investigator’s salary.

View all Future Leader Award Recipients.

Identifying Genomic and Microbiome Influence on Response to Dietary Interventions for Improved Lipid Parameters

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Metabolic syndrome, whose clinical manifestations include central obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and elevated glucose levels, results in greatly increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Changes in diet and physical activity can prevent and even reverse manifestations of metabolic syndrome, but current dietary recommendations fail to account for important factors, such as the individual’s genome and their intestinal bacteria community, which could determine how they respond to changes in diet. The microbiome in particular is shaped by both host genes and diet and has a central role in the regulation of digestion and metabolism. The goal of this study is to determine whether changes in the richness, diversity, or structure of the intestinal microbial community can be used as a predictor for response to alterations in diet.

Institution: Colorado State University
Principal Investigator: Tiffany Weir, PhD
Year Awarded: 2014

The IAFNS Future Leader Award, given annually to promising nutrition and food scientists, allows new investigators the opportunity to add to an existing project or to conduct exploratory research that might not receive funding from other sources or add to an existing project. Consideration is given to individuals proposing research in the areas of experimental nutrition, nutrition and toxicology, and nutrition and food science. Grants extend for a period of 2 years at a funding level of $15,000 USD per year. Funds may not be used for overhead or to support the investigator’s salary.

View all Future Leader Award Recipients.