Stephen D. Hursting, PhD, MPH
Professor of Nutrition
hursting@email.unc.edu
704-250-5059
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Dr. Hursting is a Professor of Nutrition at the UNC Nutrition Research Institute in Kannapolis, NC. He is also Professor in the Department of Nutrition and the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. An international leader in the area of nutrition, obesity, metabolism and cancer, his lab focuses on the molecular and metabolic mechanisms underlying obesity-cancer associations, and the impact of obesity- energy balance modulation (eg, calorie restriction and exercise) or pharmacologic agents on cancer development, progression, and responses to chemotherapy. Primarily using genetically engineered mouse models of breast cancer (recently in parallel with several clinical trials), colon cancer and pancreatic cancer, Dr. Hursting has identified the IGF1/Akt/mTOR and NF-kB signaling pathways as key targets for breaking the obesity-cancer link. His publications establish causal links between obesity, cancer and several systemic factors (including IGF-1, insulin, leptin and IL-6) and components of their downstream signaling pathways (including mTOR and NF-kb).
Prior to joining the UNC faculty in 2014, Dr. Hursting was Professor and Chair of the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin, the McKean-Love Endowed Chair of Nutritional, Molecular and Cellular Sciences in the UT College of Natural Sciences, and Professor of Molecular Carcinogenesis at the UT-MD Anderson Cancer Center (2005-14). Dr. Hursting earned a BA in biology from Earlham College and a PhD in nutritional biochemistry and an MPH in nutritional epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He also completed postdoctoral training in molecular biology and cancer prevention as a Cancer Prevention Fellow at the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
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Elaine (Elle) Glenny, PhD
Research Associate, Hursting Lab - Chapel Hill
Elle completed her PhD at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill under the supervision of Dr. Ian Carroll where she investigated the consequences of severe calorie restriction on intestinal stem cell function and potential interactions of the gut microbiota. To further delineate dietary regulation of intestinal epithelial cell function, Elle has remained at UNC-Chapel Hill where she is now working with Drs. Stephen Hursting and Jatin Roper (Duke University) to investigate adipose-derived inflammatory factors that may drive colorectal tumor progression in obesity.
Evan Paules, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Hursting Lab
Evan Paules joined the NRI in August 2016 as a doctoral student under the mentorship of Dr. Zeisel. Following his graduation, Evan joined the lab of Dr. Hursting where he is now a postdoctoral researcher. Evan is currently investigating the determinants of heterogenic responses to dietary interventions in individuals. Evan attended Rider University where he graduated with a double major in Biochemistry and Behavioral Neuroscience. He was also a member of Rider University’s Division 1 swim team for all four years while he attended Rider.
Erika Rezeli
Lab Manager, Hursting Lab - Chapel Hill
Liver Cancer Report Reveals New Links: Coffee is Protective, Obesity Increases Risk
April 1, 2015 • For the first time, a report from an ongoing systematic review of global research finds that drinking coffee lowers risk for liver cancer, a disease that is increasing in the U.S. and the second leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide.
Today’s report also finds strong evidence linking body fatness to increased risk for liver cancer. This means that liver cancer now officially joins the growing list of cancers caused by overweight and obesity. Sixty-nine percent of U.S. adults are currently overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Series to help laypeople understand science
Saturday, February 14, 2015 • The following has been reprinted from Charlotte Observer, an article by Lisa Thornton. If Dr. Natalia Surzenko told you that choline produces increased hippocampal neurogenesis in Mus musculus, you probably wouldn’t understand. But if she said a nutrient called choline, naturally found in foods such as egg yolks, salmon and cocoa powder has been shown to regenerate brain cells responsible for increased memory in mice, that would be different. At the UNC Nutrition Research Institute in Kannapolis, where Surzenko, a neurobiologist, has her lab, a new series called “Appetite for Life” is intended to create clearer dialogue between researchers and laypeople about discoveries changing the way experts view nutrition.
Diet and Cancer Prevention
Dr. Stephen Hursting, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Favorable Modulation of Benign Breast Tissue and Serum Risk Biomarkers Is Associated with >10% Weight Loss in Postmenopausal Women
Favorable modulation of benign breast tissue and serum risk biomarkers is associated with > 10 % weight loss in postmenopausal women.
Fabian CJ, Kimler BF, Donnelly JE, Sullivan DK, Klemp JR, Petroff BK, Phillips TA, Metheny T, Aversman S, Yeh HW, Zalles CM, Mills GB, Hursting SD.
Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2013 Nov;142(1):119-32. doi: 10.1007/s10549-013-2730-8. Epub 2013 Oct 19.
PMID: 24141897
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Obesity and Cancer Metabolism: A Perspective on Interacting Tumor-Intrinsic and Extrinsic Factors.
When less may be more: calorie restriction and response to cancer therapy.
Energy balance and obesity: what are the main drivers?
Metabolic Reprogramming by Folate Restriction Leads to a Less Aggressive Cancer Phenotype.