Grand Challenges

Clinton D. Allred and Robert S. Chapkin
Department of Nutrition, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Description of the Initiative
There is an impending chronic disease crisis in our country and it is predicted that if the current trends continue, the number of cancer cases diagnosed annually by 2050 is likely to double as a result of population aging.  Therefore, if the healthcare community hopes to head off the coming storm, we need to increasingly emphasize primary cancer prevention research and training.  Read More….

Overall Goal
Our goal is to coalesce an interdisciplinary group of faculty, post docs and students working to reduce cancer prevalence into an integrated team for the purpose of developing extramurally funded research projects and a graduate training program in Primary Cancer Prevention.  This goal is well aligned with the COALS Improving Our Health Grand Challenge under the topic of Foods for Health and Prevention of Disease.

Current Training & Upcoming Events

Faculty from multiple disciplines  participated in: NIH CARBON Program.
The CARBON Program is to promote collaborative, transdisciplinary research on the safety, effectiveness, and mechanisms of action of botanical dietary supplements that have a high potential to benefit human health.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Selected Graduate & Postdoc Students attended:  Course in Molecular Prevention

Destiny Mullens to train in Bioinformatics at: Galaxy Conference
Galaxy Community Conferences are an opportunity to participate in presentations, discussions, demos, poster sessions, lightning talks and birds-of-a-feather gatherings, all about high-throughput biology and the tools that support it.

Graduate Student attended: The John Milner Nutrition and Cancer Prevention Research Practicum

Offered since 2004, this one-week intense learning session provides specialized instruction in the role of diet and bioactive food components as modifiers of cancer incidence and tumor behavior and engages participants through didactic and interactive experiences. The practicum is not intended to enhance patient education or clinical practice, rather, it is research based and best suited for those interested in expanding their research. Read Karen’s reflection here.