Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Increase Risk for Hyperuricemia

October 25, 2016 • According to the CDC, sugar-sweetened beverages are the largest source of added sugar in the average American’s diet, and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend individuals consume no more than ten percent of calories per day from processed or added sugar. From the UNC Chapel Hill Nutrition Research Institute (NRI), scientists are investigating the connection between these beverages, human genetics, and uric acid metabolism.

MURDOCK-NCRC Seed Funding Voucher Program

August 2, 2016 • Two NRI investigators are among six recipients of recent seed-funding vouchers awarded by the Duke University MURDOCK Study, a research partner of the North Carolina Research Campus (NCRC) in Kannapolis. Saroja Voruganti, PhD, and Manya Warrier, PhD, each received $10,000 to help pay for the services and capabilities of the David H. Murdock Research Institute, located on the NCRC, which offers scientific expertise and advanced instrumentation to collaborators focused on transforming science at the intersection of human health, nutrition and agriculture.

August 2016

Unrelated Diseases Can Share Common Underlying Genetic Factors A recent study by NRI researcher Saroja Voruganti and her laboratory highlights the value of genome-wide analysis and underscores the reality that seemingly unrelated diseases often share common,...

Unrelated Diseases Can Share Common Underlying Genetic Factors

July 21, 2016 • A recent study by NRI researcher Saroja Voruganti and her laboratory highlights the value of genome-wide analysis and underscores the reality that seemingly unrelated diseases often share common, underlying factors. In their recent publication (Chittoor et al., 2016) the researchers identified two genes, ITPR1 and CNTN4, as potential mediators of uric acid concentration. Notably, neither of these genes shows an obvious connection to uric acid, but they have been linked to autism and other neurological disorders.