Brian Bennett, Ph.D, an emerging scientist in nutrigenomics, joined the WHNRC in 2016 as The Research Leader for the Obesity and Metabolism Unit. Dr. Bennett, with his passion to help prevent heart disease, researches the role of the human diet and nutrition as it relates to heart disease. He explores genetic components of chronic metabolic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and obesity, through integrative genetic studies, also called “systems genetics.” Dr. Bennett’s studies examine the relationship among many types of data such as genetic variants, gene expression levels and metabolite levels and how these interact to increase susceptibility to cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Nicholas Broskey is a translational scientist studying skeletal muscle physiology, with a focus on how mitochondria influence health and disease. His research explores how exercise can improve metabolic conditions through mitochondrial biology. Dr. Broskey has led exercise interventions for older adults at risk for diabetes and now studies how maternal health during pregnancy affects infants’ future metabolic outcomes.

Trained in both adult and infant phenotyping, he specializes in exercise prescription, glycemic control, and energy expenditure measurements, including the hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp and indirect calorimetry. His lab work examines skeletal muscle mitochondrial function and uses mesenchymal stem cell models to study how early-life factors program obesity and diabetes risk. His goal is to uncover how mitochondria may imprint metabolic health in infants.

Dr. Cory R. Brouwer is Director of the Bioinformatics Services Division and Associate Professor of Bioinformatics and Genomics at UNC Charlotte. He and his team provide a wide range of bioinformatics and computational biology services to the NCRC, UNC Charlotte and surrounding area life sciences community. Some recent projects have involved de novo assembly of genomes and transcriptomes using next generation sequencing, clinical association studies and comparative genomics.

Rachel W. Goode is an Assistant Professor at the School of Social Work and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Center for Eating Disorder Excellence, Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Goode received her PhD, MPH, and MSW from the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests include developing, implementing, and evaluating equitable and community-engaged interventions to treat obesity and eating disorders.

Natalia Krupenko, PhD, Associate Professor of Nutrition, joined the UNC Nutrition Research Institute in April 2014. Dr. Krupenko’s research is focused on the role of folate (vitamin B₉) in promoting health and preventing disease in humans. Folate deficiency has been connected with increased risk for neural tube defects, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Recently, however, concerns have been raised regarding the adverse effects of over-supplementation with the vitamin. Dr. Krupenko’s goal is to determine the best ways to utilize health-protective properties of folate and prevent the possibility of its adverse effects in humans.

Dr. Ideraabdullah is an Associate Professor of Genetics in the School of Medicine and holds a joint appointment in the Department of Nutrition in the Gillings School of Global Public Health. She earned her PhD in comparative mouse genetics at UNC Chapel Hill and completed postdoctoral training in epigenetic regulation of genomic imprinting at the University of Pennsylvania. The Ideraabdullah lab studies mechanisms of environmental modulation of the epigenome during development.

Dr. Blake Rushing is an Assistant Professor at the UNC Nutrition Research Institute whose lab uses multi-omics and analytical chemistry to study how nutrient metabolism drives cancer and chronic disease. His work integrates metabolomics, genomics, and other omics data to uncover mechanisms of disease progression and identify new strategies for precision nutrition and oncology. As Associate Director of the NRI’s Metabolomics and Exposome Laboratory, he contributes to major NIH initiatives such as HHEAR and Nutrition for Precision Health.

Dr. Douglas Seals is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Integrative Physiology at the University of Colorado Boulder. He obtained B.S. degrees in Education and Business from William Jewell College, M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Exercise and Applied physiology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and postdoctoral research training in Aging and Applied Physiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. After an initial tenure-track faculty position at the University of Arizona, he moved his laboratory to the former Department of Kinesiology at the University of Colorado Boulder in 1992, while creating the first-ever joint appointment by a campus faculty member in the CU School of Medicine (Divisions of Geriatric Medicine and Cardiology).

Abbie E. Smith-Ryan is a Professor and leads an innovative laboratory specializing in human subject’s clinical trials at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. She completed her undergraduate work at Truman State University, her MS (2008) and PhD (2011) from the University of Oklahoma. Her research interests center around exercise and nutrition interventions to modify various aspects of body composition, cardiovascular health, and metabolic function, with a special focus on women’s health across the lifespan. She is an active researcher in the field of metabolism, sport nutrition, and exercise performance, in both healthy and clinical populations, leading projects funded by the National Institutes of Health and International and National industry sponsored clinical trials. Dr. Smith-Ryan has a passion for improving the health and quality of life of others through evidenced-based research and mentoring students.

Susan Sumner, PhD is a Professor of Nutrition at UNC Chapel Hill’s Nutrition Research Institute (NRI), and the Director of the Metabolomics and Exposome Laboratory (MEL) at UNC Chapel Hill. Dr. Sumner is working to make personalized medicine and precision nutrition a reality.  Using state-of-the-art metabolomics and exposome technologies, Dr. Sumner’s team determines how molecules that are present in our tissues and biological fluids are associated with states of health and wellness. Through this approach, biomarkers are discovered that can lead to new diagnostics for the early detection and diagnosis of disease, to monitor treatment and intervention, and to inform the development of intervention strategies.

Deborah Tate is a professor in the Department of Nutrition. She holds a joint appointment in the Department of Health Behavior and a faculty appointment at the Nutrition Research Institute. Dr. Tate is a behavioral scientist, receiving her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. Her research focuses on two main areas: (a) strategies for improving both short and long-term body weight regulation to reduce disease risks and (b) the development and translation of programs as alternatives to clinic-based care using digital and wearable technologies. She has been continuously funded in obesity, diabetes prevention and digital health intervention research by the National Institutes of Health since 2000 and is known internationally for her work in web and mobile interventions.

Isis Trujillo-Gonzalez, PhD is a Research Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Nutrition Research Institute (NRI). Her research is focused on mechanisms linking choline status and neurodevelopment in health and disease states. She joined the NRI in 2015 to conduct her postdoctoral research under Steve Zeisel mentoring. She earned her PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

Dr. Saroja Voruganti, Associate Professor of Nutrition, is working on building a nationally and internationally recognized research program in nutritional genomics at UNC. A unique field, nutritional genomics seeks to identify genetic susceptibility to diseases, effect of genetic variation on nutrient metabolism and the effect of nutrients on gene expression. She has extensively investigated the interplay between nutritional and genetic factors influencing disease risk in ethnically diverse populations, especially minority populations such as Mexican American, American Indian, Alaska Native, Parsi Zoroastrian and Hispanic children populations. Her research is focused on uncovering new connections between genetics, nutrition, and epidemiology that can lead to more accurate determination disease risk and new treatment options for metabolic diseases.