A $4.7 million grant funded by the National Science Foundation EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) will propel UNMC’s research into a new field, nutritional genomics, and may lead to a better understanding of diet and disease.
Judith Christman, Ph.D., the Stokes-Shackleford professor and chairwoman of the UNMC Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, said the EPSCoR grant is intended to enhance research and provide educational opportunities for students at all levels, while making Nebraska more competitive for future research funding. Dr. Christman co-leads the project with Mike Fromm, professor of agronomy and horticulture and director of the Center for Biotechnology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Using funds from the EPSCoR grant, approximately 15 faculty members will develop the Metabolite Signaling Center at UNL to study how the complex chemicals in food (metabolites) influence organisms’ growth and development. New genomic technologies have increased the feasibility of deciphering such complex interactions.
The grant is one example of the growing cooperation between UNMC and UNL, Dr. Christman said. The novel studies will examine how differences in a person’s genetic inheritance and/or changes in the function of their genes that occur after birth (epigenetic changes) affect the interactions between diet and health. Co-leaders say the project could lead to the development of agricultural products with value-added compositional changes that would benefit humans and livestock.
Nebraska can attain a leadership position by being one of the first centers in the nation to focus on this new area of science, Dr. Christman said. “It will parlay the research strengths we already have into something larger and will ensure continued success by leading to better education of young people going into research in Nebraska,” she said.
Dr. Christman’s lab is focusing on how diets can be altered to prevent colon cancer. She is studying how a lack or excess of certain dietary components affects methylation of DNA. Methylation of DNA is a way that cells and tissues can silence gene expression during normal fetal development without actually changing the genetic information they carry. Changes in the normal pattern of DNA methylation are thought to play a role in development of many cancers.
“We’re doing work now showing that some components of soy and green tea may work as anti-cancer agents because they affect DNA methylation,” Dr. Christman said. “We’re looking at genetic and molecular basis for controlling responses to diet and also improving some of the techniques currently used to detect changes in DNA methylation.”
Other UNMC investigators whose research will be supported by the EPSCoR project are Rob Lewis, Ph.D., leader of the Cancer Genes and Molecular Regulation Program of the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center, and James Shull, Ph.D., Ardith and Anna Von Housen professor and chair of the UNMC Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Anatomy.
Each researcher is looking at different facets of how one’s genetic and epigenetic makeup determines the effects nutrients have on their health. “Ultimately, the knowledge can be used to produce new foods that are enriched with components that are known to maintain health in people with high risk for obesity, cancer and other diseases,” Dr. Christman said.
The grant supporting the work on Nutritional Genomics is part of a $9 million grant from the National Science Foundation funding through the Nebraska EPSCoR program, which serves UNMC, UNL, the University of Nebraska at Omaha and Creighton University. The grant, which was announced July 6, also will fund three other projects in cell biology, nanomaterials and mobile computing at the campuses.