September 21, 2016 • Natalia Surzenko, Ph.D., is part of a team of researchers at the UNC-Chapel Hill Nutrition Research Institute (NRI) located on the North Carolina Research Campus (NCRC) in Kannapolis focusing their efforts on brain development. Her current goal is to determine the role of choline as an essential nutrient for development of the cerebral cortex.
June 27, 2016 • The UNC Nutrition Research Institute (NRI) welcomes Susan Smith, Ph.D., who joins the research facility’s roster of scientists this month. Dr. Smith is an internationally recognized expert on how nutrition affects birth defect risks.
May 23, 2016 • The UNC Nutrition Research Institute (NRI) holds its first short course in Nutrigenetics, Nutrigenomics and Precision Nutrition, May 23 – 26. This workshop-style educational course features 16 expert-led presentations on an array of topics including “Nutrition and Epigenetics” and “MicroRNA and Metabolic Profiling.” State-of-the-art practice is an important component of the short course. In hands-on sessions participants will learn to analyze and interpret genetic data using PLINK, Harvard’s open-source, whole-genome association analysis software toolset.
April 26, 2016 • Some inherited genetic mutations have obvious harmful effects, such as those associated with cystic fibrosis or sickle cell anemia. Now, scientists are learning more about stress-induced effects of gene mutations. We have known for some time that certain astronauts who had spent time at the International Space Station developed vision problems.
March 10, 2016 • A team of researchers from the University of North Carolina’s Chapel Hill Nutrition Research Institute (UNC NRI) created and tested what it believes is a more reliable method to measure antioxidant capacity.
Currently, many assays involved hydrogen atom transfer reactions (like in oxygen radical absorbance capacity [ORAC] and total radical trapping antioxidant parameter [TRAP]) or electron transfer. The UNC assay measures the activation of antioxidant response elements (AREs). AREs are said to turn on genes in the body that make enzymes for protecting cells against free radical damage.
March 7, 2016 • Daniel Lupu, MD, doctoral student in nutrition, has received the 2015 David Kritchevsky Graduate Student Award from the journal Nutrition Research for two articles published in the November 2015 issue of the journal.