Lab News

American Society for Nutrition Foundation Announces Class of 2024 Fellows

Elizabeth Szymanski · April 2, 2024 ·

April 1, 2024 by ASN Staff

ASN’s Class of 2024 Fellows will be honored in Chicago at NUTRITION 2024, the largest nutrition meeting of the year.

Rockville, MD (April 1, 2024) – The American Society for Nutrition (ASN) and ASN Foundation are thrilled to announce the 15 distinguished luminaries who will be inducted into the ASN Class of 2024 Fellows. Induction as a Fellow of the Society is the highest accolade bestowed by ASN, honoring individuals for their significant contributions and outstanding lifetime achievements in the field of nutrition.

“We are excited to introduce the newest class of ASN Fellows. These individuals have devoted themselves to advancing our discipline and improving global health,” remarked ASN President, Kevin Schalinske, PhD. “Their work has paved the path for future generations of scientists, clinicians, and scholars.”

“The ASN Foundation extends heartfelt congratulations to the ASN Class of 2024 Fellows and expresses deep appreciation for their unwavering commitment to propelling our scientific domain and the Society forward,” said Catherine E. Woteki, PhD, Chair of the ASN Foundation Board of Trustees. “We look forward to celebrating their remarkable achievements at NUTRITION 2024, taking place June 29 – July 2 in Chicago.”

The ASN Class of 2024 Fellows

Mona S. Calvo, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Robert S. Chapkin, PhD, Texas A&M University

Elvira de Mejía, PhD, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Earl H. Harrison, PhD, Ohio State University

Christiani Jeyakumar Henry, PhD, Agency Science, Technology and Research, Singapore

Paul F. Jacques, DSc, USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University

Donald K. Layman, PhD, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Harris R. Lieberman, PhD, U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine

Eric L. Lien, PhD, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

J. Alfredo Martínez Hernández, PhD, PharmD, MD, University of Navarra, Spain

Luis A. Mejía, PhD, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

John R. Speakman, PhD, DSc, University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom

Valerie Tarasuk, PhD, University of Toronto, Canada

Nimbe Torres, PhD, Salvador Zubirán National Institute of Health Sciences and Nutrition, Mexico

Armando R. Tovar, PhD, Salvador Zubirán National Institute of Health Sciences and Nutrition, Mexico

The induction of the Class of 2024 Fellows underscores ASN’s dedication to recognizing excellence and fostering advancements in the field of nutrition. The ASN Class of 2024 Fellows will be honored at the Fellows, Past Presidents, and 50-Year Member Luncheon held on June 30 from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place during ASN’s annual flagship meeting, NUTRITION 2024. Members of this year’s class join more than 500 other ASN Fellows who have been recognized since the program began in 1952. For more information about ASN, the ASN Foundation, and the Class of 2024 Fellows, visit nutrition.org/foundation/asn-fellows.

About the American Society for Nutrition (ASN)
The American Society for Nutrition (ASN) is the preeminent professional organization for scientists and clinicians around the world. Founded in 1928, the society brings together the top nutrition researchers, medical practitioners, policy makers and industry leaders to advance the science, education, and practice of nutrition, reaching more than 55 million people annually. ASN publishes four peer-reviewed journals and provides education and professional development opportunities year-round. Since 2018, the American Society of Nutrition has presented NUTRITION, the leading global annual meeting for nutrition professionals. Visit us at nutrition.org.

About the ASN Foundation (ASNF)
The American Society for Nutrition Foundation (ASNF) complements and enhances ASN priorities and activities through the dissemination and application of nutrition science and education to improve public health and clinical practice worldwide, and advancing the Society’s role as a global leader in nutrition, health, and wellness. The ASNF’s broad portfolio of activities includes education, awards and scholarships, as well as recognition of lifetime achievement through our renowned Fellows program. The ASNF also raises funds to turn current challenges facing the field into opportunities that support the future. Visit us at nutrition.org/foundation.

Texas A&M AgriLife researcher receives $4 million grant to study feeding intolerance in preterm infants

Elizabeth Szymanski · November 8, 2023 ·

Novel noninvasive method allows for precise diagnosis of feeding intolerance severity

Texas A&M AgriLife researcher receives $4 million grant to study feeding intolerance in preterm infants

For infants, especially those born prematurely, nutrient absorption and proper development go hand in hand. However, no precise measures or clinical tools exist to measure nutrient absorption or to reliably differentiate between benign and life-threatening symptoms in the preterm infant.

A baby's hand touching the finger of an adult while the adult's other hand holding a baby bottle. Robert Chapkin, Ph.D., is leading an NIH-funded study on feeding intolerance in preterm infants — Robert Chapkin, Ph.D., is leading research to study feeding intolerance in preterm infants. The Chapkin lab has developed a novel noninvasive method that allows for precise diagnosis of feeding intolerance severity. (Adobe Stock photo)

When an infant has symptoms that suggest trouble digesting milk or formula, physicians work to rule out worst-case scenarios such as severe intestinal injury or necrotizing enterocolitis, NEC. A clinician’s response may involve stopping tube feedings, ordering serial abdominal radiographs and initiating broad-spectrum antibiotics. These interventions, however, could threaten an infant’s growth, gastrointestinal microbiome and neurocognitive development.

To test an intervention without these side effects, Robert Chapkin, Ph.D., Allen Endowed Chair in Nutrition and Chronic Disease Prevention, Department of Nutrition and Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Texas A&M AgriLife researcher, will lead research to apply a noninvasive method developed by the Chapkin lab.

New grant to assess neonatal gut

The novel method developed by Chapkin enables researchers to assess the intestinal physiology of a baby, including an accurate determination of their nutrient absorption. By examining the intestinal cells exfoliated in the baby’s feces, clinicians will be able to noninvasively assess neonatal gut, which is the primary site of nutrient absorption and the host immune system. This assessment might help eliminate more limited or potentially harmful treatments.

“Believe it or not, clinicians basically still don’t really know what’s going on in these babies,” said Chapkin. “We developed a noninvasive methodology where we capture gene expression information, i.e., an mRNA molecular fingerprint, from intestinal cells that are exfoliated into the fecal stream.”

Chapkin and his research team recently received a new five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health, NIH, for this project. The $3.9 million grant will help researchers assess the nutritional and clinical predictors of intestinal maturation and feeding intolerance in the preterm infant.

“This is the evolution of a long collaborative process where we are focusing on nutrition in newborn babies and, to some degree, babies who are born extremely premature,” said Chapkin. “The question is, what sort of nutrition do these children need for optimal health?”

Sharon Donovan, Ph.D., Hagler Scholar, professor, Melissa M. Noel Endowed Chair in Nutrition and Health, and director of the Personalized Nutrition Initiative, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is helping lead the grant.

Additional collaborators include Camilia Martin, M.D., division chief of neonatology, Weill Cornell Medicine; Sarah Taylor, M.D., professor of pediatrics and chief, section of neonatal-perinatal medicine, as well as director of clinical research, Yale School of Medicine; and Ivan Ivanov, Ph.D., research professor, Texas A&M University Department of Biomedical Engineering, and clinical professor, Texas A&M Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology.

Noninvasive method

Feeding intolerance is a common occurrence in preterm infants and can signal a range of problems from minor issues to more serious ones like NEC. Determining the severity of a feeding intolerance is difficult, however, because clinicians are limited in the invasive tests they can perform on infants.

“We have some degree of knowledge what is in their gut, but we really don’t know how the baby is responding,” Chapkin said. “You can’t do a blood draw on these babies unless you have very specific protocols that are being approved because it is considered a highly vulnerable population.”

That is where the work of Chapkin’s research team and its noninvasive “precision exfoliomic” methodology come into play.

Chapkin said the team captures gene expression information from cells that are exfoliated or released through a normal process. The cells enter the fecal stream, where feces resides along with trillions of microbes. The cells are eventually passed naturally by the baby.

“We get molecular signatures, or biomarkers, on the baby in real time, and we are looking for information that will tell us what is going on in the baby’s immune system and if it is a normal healthy baby,” Chapkin said.

About the Chapkin lab

Chapkin’s research has been continuously funded by the NIH for the past 35 years. Research in his lab focuses on dietary and microbial modulators related to the prevention of cancer and chronic inflammatory diseases.

-30-MEDIA INQUIRIES

Laura Muntean
laura.muntean@ag.tamu.edu
601.248.1891

Tim Schnettler

tim.schnettler@ag.tamu.edu

Tim Schnettler is a Web Communications Specialist with Texas A&M AgriLife Communications.

Texas A&M University Faculty Affairs

Elizabeth Szymanski · September 14, 2023 ·

Congratulates Dr. Robert Chapkin for ASN Award

BREAKTHROUGH IN Wnt SIGNALING PUBLISHED!

Elizabeth Szymanski · August 23, 2023 ·

Breakthrough publication! Our recent paper in Nature Communications explains the novel structure-function mechanism by which cholesterol promotes colon cancer. From a functional perspective, Wnt factors organize to form specialized plasma membrane (PM) domains. Dysregulation of Wnt domain structure can promote oncogenic Wnt signaling. Here, we describe an intricate Wnt signaling-associated mechanism involving oncogenic truncated APC and the loss of PM cholesterol homeostasis, which alters the organization of Wnt signaling nanoassemblies (biomolecular condensates) and drives aberrant Wnt signaling and CRC tumorigenesis. These highly significant findings are relevant to the nascent field of “membrane therapy”.

Have a 2nd Cup of Coffee

nutritionlab · June 6, 2023 ·

Have a second cup: Coffee provides health benefits

Review paper outlines Texas A&M research on protective effects of coffee

APRIL 27, 2023

Having that second cup may actually be good for coffee drinkers, according to a discussion of coffee’s preventive and therapeutic benefits to human health in a recent review paper by Texas A&M University researchers.

The paper, “Health Benefits of Coffee Consumption for Cancer and Other Diseases and Mechanisms of Action,” was published recently in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.

Some of the coffee research reported in the review was conducted by Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists in Texas A&M’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Nutrition and Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics in collaboration with researchers in the School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology.

pouring a cup of coffee — Research has shown that higher coffee consumption is associated with lower rates of mortality as well as lower rates of some neurological and metabolic disorders. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Laura McKenzie)

About coffee

Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages worldwide, and epidemiological studies have associated higher coffee consumption with decreased rates of mortality, as well as decreased rates of neurological and metabolic diseases, including Parkinson’s disease and Type 2 diabetes.

“There is also evidence that higher coffee consumption is associated with lower rates of colon and rectal cancer, as well as breast, endometrial and other cancers, although there are conflicting reports on its benefit for some of these cancers,” said Stephen Safe, Ph.D., a coauthor of the review paper.

Safe is a Distinguished Professor and Regent’s Professor of toxicology in the Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology. He has conducted research on the anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties in coffee.

Collaborative research

Among the studies noted in the review was an examination of the “Role of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) in mediating the effects of coffee in the colon,” originally published in Molecular Nutrition and Food Research. The research was conducted in the Safe Lab and Chapkin Lab, in collaboration with Arul Jayaraman, Ph.D., of the Texas A&M College of Engineering.

The Chapkin Laboratory is led by Robert Chapkin, Ph.D., University Distinguished Professor and Allen Endowed Chair in the Department of Nutrition and Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics. Chapkin also is the National Cancer Institute R35 Outstanding Investigator Awardee, leads the Program in Integrative Nutrition and Complex Diseases and is the recently named deputy director of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas Regional Center of Excellence in Cancer Research at Texas A&M.

Dr. Chapkin in lab looking at sample — *Robert Chapkin, Ph.D., is head of the Chapkin Laboratory, where much of the research on coffee’s health benefits has been conducted. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Michael Miller)*

Chapkin and Laurie Davidson, Ph.D., a Department of Nutrition research scientist who works in the Chapkin Lab, were two of the primary contributors to the study.

“The mechanisms associated with the chemopreventive or chemotherapeutic effects of over 1,000 individual compounds in roasted coffee are complex and may vary with different diseases,” Chapkin said.

Some of these mechanisms may be related to pathways that target oxidative stress or pathways that induce reactive oxygen species to kill diseased cells, he said. There is also evidence for the involvement of receptors in addition to contributions from epigenetic pathways and the gut microbiome.

“As part of our study using genetically modified cell lines, mouse colonic organoids and transgenic mouse models, we wanted to further elucidate the mechanisms that would facilitate the potential future clinical applications of coffee extracts,” Chapkin said.

The review noted that although roasted coffee beans and brewed coffee contain high levels of caffeine, there are several hundred individual phytochemical-derived compounds that include chlorogenic acid/lignans, alkaloids, polyphenolics, terpenoids, melanoidins, vitamins and metals. Some of these also include flavonoid quercetin, chlorogenic acid, caffeine, the alkaloid norharman also called beta-carboline, and the terpenoid cafestrol.

Two small cups of roasted coffee beans — Although roasted coffee beans and brewed coffee contain high levels of caffeine, Texas A&M AgriLife researchers are exploring the anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties in coffee. (Laura McKenzie/Texas A&M AgriLife Marketing and Communications)

Coffee’s mechanisms of action

Research showed the mechanisms of action of coffee are complex and dependent on the effects of its constituents, including chlorogenic acids, polyphenolics, terpenoids, alkaloids and other phytochemicals.

“We also found evidence that the antioxidant activity of coffee, which activates the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2, or Nrf2, may be an important mechanism of action,” Davidson said. “But since Nrf2 exhibits both health-protective and drug-resistant activities, other cell context-dependent factors may also be important.”

Davidson said they also found evidence that the protective effects of coffee in the gut decreased colon cancer risk, which may be due to its activity as an aryl hydrocarbon ligand. The aryl hydrocarbon receptor, AhR, is a transcription factor that regulates gene expression.

Dr. Stephen Safe in lab — *Stephen Safe, Ph.D., has investigated coffee components in relation to mechanism-based drug development. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo)*

The collaborative study also demonstrated that roasted coffee-derived extracts function in part by activating the AhR. In the mouse model, coffee induced several AhR-dependent responses in the intestine. These included gene expression, inhibition of intestinal stem cell-enriched organoid growth and inhibition of intestinal barrier damage.

“Overall, these mechanisms, in concert with possible epigenetic pathways and the modulation of gut microbiota and microbial metabolites, contribute to the health benefits of higher coffee consumption,” Chapkin said.

Their research also found that some coffee components bind the orphan nuclear receptor NR4A1 to the interactions with the AhR receptor. The NH4A1 receptor is a key factor in multiple diseases, such as arthritis, inflammation, cancer and cardiovascular diseases, and a high NR4A1 expression is associated with breast cancer.

The recently published paper also refers to research from the Safe Laboratory focused on developing and discovering compounds for mechanism-based drug development to target both cancer and non-cancer endpoints.

“A major target for cancer chemotherapy includes specific protein transcription factors, the aryl hydrocarbon receptor, the estrogen receptor and orphan nuclear receptors NR4A1,” Safe said.

He said research from the Safe Lab has included collaboration with Chapkin and others to investigate the role of the aryl hydrocarbon ligand and its microbial metabolites on intestinal function and disease.

“We also have ongoing collaborations focused on endometriosis, Parkinson’s Disease, and learning and memory,” Safe said. “We have been very interested in the therapeutic impact of coffee consumption on many of these diseases and how it may improve human health.”

While much of the research conducted on the human health benefits of coffee was performed using preclinical models, Safe and Chapkin said the mechanistic findings will support future translational studies in humans.

“This suggests that clinical applications of coffee extracts, particularly for treating some cancers, should be considered,” Safe said.