Chapkin Lab

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 the ASN website.

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.

Novel noninvasive method allows for precise diagnosis of feeding intolerance severity

AgriLife Today Article

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. 

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.

Congratulates Dr. Robert Chapkin for ASN Award