Katie Hinde, earned a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Washington in 1999, a Ph.D. in Anthropology from UCLA in 2008, and was a post-doctoral scholar in Neuroscience at Neuroscience at the California National Primate Research Center, UC Davis from 2009-2011.

Professor Hinde began as an Assistant Professor in Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and is now an Associate Professor at Arizona State University in the Center for Evolution and Medicine and School for Human Evolution and Social Change.

Since 2002, Hinde has investigated the first substance a mammal has evolved to consume: mother's milk. In her Comparative Lactation Lab they investigate how mother’s milk contributes to infant development and behavior in socially complex taxa, particularly humans and monkeys.

In addition to journal publications, Hinde co-edited “Building Babies: Primate Developmental Trajectories in Proximate and Ultimate Perspective” released by Springer in 2013. Hinde is an associate editor and writer for SPLASH! Milk Science Update, executive council member for the International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation, and showcases research on mother’s milk, breastfeeding, and lactation for the general public, clinicians, and researchers at her blog “Mammals Suck… Milk!”

Peter J. Jones, is a Canada Research Chair in Functional Foods and Nutrition, and Director of the Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals at the University where his main appointment is in the Department of Food Science with a cross-appointment in Human Nutritional Sciences.

A native of Vancouver, Dr. Jones received a BSc degree in Biochemistry at the University of British Columbia. He obtained an MSc in Human Nutrition at the same institution before completing a PhD in Nutritional Biochemistry from the University of Toronto in 1985. Then, after two years with the Clinical Nutrition Research Center at the University of Chicago as a Medical Research Council of Canada post-doctoral fellow, Dr. Jones spent several years on faculty with the Division of Human Nutrition at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Jones was Director of the School Dietetics and Human Nutrition at McGill University from 1994-1999; in addition to being a professor in the school and holding a cross-appointment in the Department of Medicine until 2005.

Currently, Dr. Jones serves as President of the Danone Institute for Nutrition in Canada and Past-President of the Canadian Society for Nutritional Science. He serves as Chairman of the Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals Board of the Vancouver-based Forbes Medi-tech group. Dr. Jones also has sat on the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, World Health Organization, and United Nations University (FAO/WHO/UNU) Expert Consultant Panel for Energy and Protein Requirements in Human Nutrition.

Dr Jones' research interests cover cholesterol, fat and energy metabolism. He has applied novel stable isotope methodologies to examine the response of these areas of metabolism to dietary intervention. His research group has been active in exploring the dietary determinants which control cholesterol biosynthesis absorption and turnover in humans, as well as how plant sterols act in functional foods as cholesterol-lowering agents. Dr. Jones has published over 325 peer-reviewed research articles and reviews in international journals, as well as chapters in leading nutrition textbooks.

since 2002. Associate Director of I+D+i at INIA (Soria). Member of the Scientific Advisory Group for the 7^th EU framework, ILSi, Académico Correspondiente Real Academia de Farmacia.(Royal Academy of Pharmacy, Spain), Secretary of the Federation of European Nutrition Societies (FENS 2003-2007), Spanish Federation of Nutrition, Food and Dietetics (FESNAD president 2005-2010).Member of the IUNS Council (2005-), President-elect of  International Union of Nutritional Sciences (2013-), President of ISNN (2014-).
The research fields in which I have been involved for the last years include :Nutritional control of metabolism, Nutritional utilization of functional foods, Evaluation of nutritional status in different populations
Nutrition and immunity ,Obesity: cell, animal and human intervention and epidemiological studies, Consumer surveys,Long-distance learning.Nutrigenomics NUMBER OF PUBLICATIONS with ISBN> Over 500. BOOKS AND CHAPTERS> Over 50, INVITED SPEAKER> Over 100 lectures at international and national level (selected forum)

Raffaele De Caterina is currently  Professor of Cardiology at the Cardiology Division of G. d'Annunzio University in Chieti, Italy. He is also a Consultant and Scientific Advisor for the G. Monasterio Foundation in Pisa, Italy.

Professor De Caterina has held several positions at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). These include Vice-President of the ESC and Chairman for the Council for Basic Cardiovascular Sciences from 2008 to 2010, Member of the Committee for Practice Guidelines and Councillor to the Board from 2007 to 2008, Chairman for the Science Council from 2002 to 2004 and Chairman for the Working Group on Thrombosis from 2000 to 2002.

In addition, Professor De Caterina has also been a Founding Member and Board Member for the International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids (ISSFAL) from 1990 to 1994, a Secretary and Scientific Coordinator (1996-2008) and Chairman (2008-2010) of the Working Group on Thrombosis, at the Italian Society of Cardiology. Also, He has served as President of the International Society of Nutrigenetics/Nutrigenomics (ISNN) in the years 2012-2014.

Moreover, Professor De Caterina is a Editor-in-Chief of Vascular Pharmacology, Associate Editor of Thrombosis and Haemostasis and of Journal of the American College of Cardiology, and member of the Editorial Board for the European Heart Journal, Cardiovascular Research, Heart International, Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine and Giornale Italiano di Cardiologia.

Professor De Caterina’s major areas of research are thrombosis, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular pharmacology, atrial fibrillation and pathogenesis of coronary artery disease, as well as the Nutrigenomics and Nutrigenetics of omega-3 fatty acids and caffeine.

Yael is a registered dietician in South Africa who specializes in nutrigenomics and Functional Nutrition. Together with Dr Ruth DeBusk she co-authored the book It’s not Just Your Genes. Yael evaluates current research literature in nutrigenomics and monitors the fields’ significant new trends. She has been involved in several research collaborations with key academic partners from around the world, and is often to be found at the front lines raising awareness about nutrigenomics applications for health practitioners and the public alike. In addition to her research and development work for DNAlysis Biotechnology, Yael has been involved in the development and supervision of nutrigenomics courses. Yael is also a faculty member of the Institute for Functional Medicine in South Africa. Yael obtained her PhD from the University of Cape Town, exploring the genetics and nutrition of obesity in South African women. She is currently an adjunct Assistant Professor teaching Nutrigenomics at Rutgers University, and has developing an online Translational Nutrigenomics training course for all health practitioners.

and a Professor of Nutrigenomics and Systems Nutrition. He is a renowned expert in the area of molecular nutrition related to lipid homeostasis, nutrigenomics and nutritional systems biology and his work is focussed on the molecular mechanisms underlying genome-wide effects of foods (specific bioactive components or nutrients) on immuno-metabolic health and plasticity.

Professor Muller is a member of the editorial boards of numerous journals, i.e. “BMC Genomics” (associate editor), "European Journal of Nutrition" (section editor "Nutrigenomics") and “PLOS One” (academic editor), visiting professor at Nanijng Agricultural University and (co)author of more than 200 peer-reviewed publications with more than 8500 citations.  As promoter he has supervised 23 PhD students, has an H-factor of 57 and is a member of the “Faculty of 1000” (Biology/Physiology).

Hermona Soreq (Ph.D, Weizmann Institute) joined the faculty of The Hebrew University in 1986. She holds a University Slesinger Chair at The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences and is also a founding member of The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences. Soreq’s research is centered on acetylcholine functioning; she pioneered the application of molecular biology and genomics to the study of cholinergic signaling, with a recent focus on its microRNA regulation. She consistently collaborates with basic and clinician experts on cholinergic signaling in health and disease, was recently elected to head the International Organization of Cholinergic Mechanisms, and has one DNA-based drug in phase II clinical trials in a Jerusalem start-up. Soreq served as the elected Dean of the Faculty of Science from 2005-2008 and authored over 290 publications, including 55 published in Science, Nature, PNAS and other high-impact journals. Soreq serves on The Hebrew University’s Executive Committee and has past and current appointments on scientific advisory boards for national and international bodies with interests in life sciences. Dr. Soreq’s honors include: Honorary PhDs from the Universities of Stockholm (1996), Ben-Gurion University (2007), and Erlangen (2008), Teva Founders’ Award (2006), The Lise Meitner Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Award, Germany (2009), a Miller Fellowship at US UC Berkeley (2009) and a Rappaport prize for bio-medical research (2015). Finally, 25 of her trainees serve as faculty members in Israel (HUJI, TAU, BGU) and overseas (Berkeley, Maryland, Ann Arbor, Paris, Tours, Gottingen, London) and others contribute to government and private biotechnology organizations and companies involved in Life Sciences.

Professor Rosita Gabbianelli is Associate Professor of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and
Nutrigenomics at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Camerino, Italy. Invited Professor of
Biochemistry at the JiLin Agricultural University, Changchun, China. Invited Professor of
Nutrigenetics and Nutrigenomics at the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine
of Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Her research field includes the study of neurodegenerative processes induced by environmental
pollutants, oxidative stress diseases and molecular biological responses to redox processes. She
is the coordinator of the research cooperation between the University of Camerino and the
National Institute in Gerontology and Geriatrics (INRCA). She is the course manager for the
Bachelor degree in Scientific Information of Drugs and Science of Fitness and Health Products,
where she coordinates a large project on Food and Health in the young population. She is the
coordinator of the activity of the University of Camerino with the “Italian Association against
Cancer”. Her expertise is documented in more than 90 peer-reviewed publications. She is a
member of review panels of some journals on health and she is Chair of the Organizing Committee
of the European Summer School on Nutrigenomics.

Bruce German received his PhD from Cornell University, joined the faculty at the University of California, Davis in 1988 and is currently Director of the Foods for Health Institute and professor, at University of California, Davis. His research interests include the structure and function of dietary lipids, the evolution of milk as a model of food and health and the application of metabolic assessment to personalizing diet and health.

 

The goal of his research is to build the knowledge necessary to improve human health through personalized health measurements and diets. Research projects directed to this goal are studying how individual human lipid metabolism responds to the chemical composition and structural organization of foods. Each person has slightly different responses to diet based on their genetics, their lifestage and lifestyle, their metabolism and their nutrition status. It is thus necessary to understand the molecular basis of these differences, how to measure them and design food strategies to complement them. We are working on analytical strategies to enable individuals to monitor how their body reacts to various foods and to modify their consumption to maintain good health. With health targets established it is the equally important task of the research to understand how to provide superior choices in foods that integrate the compositional, structural and nutritional functionalities of biomaterials. The model being used of how to proceed is milk, the product of millennia of constant Darwinian selective pressure to produce a food to nourish, sustain and promote healthy infant mammals to be healthier http://www.imgconsortium.org/ . Milk is the only bio-material that has evolved for the purpose of nourishing growing mammals. Survival of offspring exerted a strong selective pressure on the biochemical evolution of lactation as a bioguided process. Just as evolution of any biological organism, the strong survive, which leads to the appearance of new traits that promote health, strength and ultimately survival. This evolutionary logic is the basis of the research program to discover physical, functional and nutritional properties of milk components and to apply these properties as principles to foods (http://fgp.ucdavis.edu/index.html).

Following 30 years in private practice as a Registered Nutritionist, Christine is currently engaged in doctoral research at the University of Queensland, investigating bioactive phytochemicals with significant clinical potential and in particular broccoli-derived sulforaphane.   She is co-author of the course, Translational Nutrigenomics and her focus in presenting this material is on the essential biochemical pathways which underpin a range of relevant polymorphisms.  In addition to her academic pursuits, Christine is Managing Director of Cell-Logic Pty Ltd, an Australian company specialising in providing nutrigenomic solutions for clinicians.

She is an accomplished writer and an engaging speaker whose evidence-supported presentations may challenge accepted but often-outdated paradigms. Christine’s forte lies in taking complex biochemical concepts and translating their essence into concepts relevant to the needs of practising clinicians. 

She is the author of “Switched On – Harnessing the Power of Nutrigenomics to Optimise Your Health” and her relevant peer-reviewed publications include 2013 Special Article in Nutrition Reviews: “SULFORAPHANE: Translational Medicine from Lab Bench to Clinic”.

Martin Schüring is Head of Innovation at ttz Bremerhaven. ttz is an innovative provider of research services and operates in the field of application-oriented research and development. Under the umbrella of ttz Bremerhaven, an international team of experts is working in the areas of food, environment and health. One main field of research is “natural processing”, meaning physical and biological treatment of food to generate new and interesting characteristics. One new field is the correlation of food intake, physical activity and specific blood markers.

Associate Professor of Food Technology at the Faculty of Bioscience and Technology for Food, Agriculture and Environment, University of Teramo (I)  and from November 2013 Deputy Rector for Internationalisation and Joint study programs of the University of Teramo.

Research activity is focused on physical, physico-chemical and rheological properties of foods and food components and their changes as a consequence of conventional and innovative processing and storage conditions. Recent interest include the technological functionality of food ingredients and the design of formulated foods with improved health and stability properties.

Paola Pittia is co-author of more than 90 papers published on peer-reviewed national and international journals, more than 180 papers presented at Conferences and symposium at national and international level and published in either proceedings or book of abstracts, 4 book chapters. She is co-editor of the International Journal of Food Studies and of the Italian Journal of Food Science. She is/was member of several Scientific and organizing committees of national and international congresses.

She is/was scientific coordinator of studies in national and international projects and in collaboration with food industry. Since 2005 she represented the University of Teramo in ISEKI_Food Erasmus TN projects and she coordinated the Erasmus TN ISEKI_Food 4 (www.iseki-food4.eu). She was/is Executive Chair of the Int. ISEKI_Food conferences.

Since September 2014 she is President of the ISEKI-Food Association (www.iseki-food.net) dealing with activities to favour research-education-industry interactions.

Dr Baukje de Roos is an internationally recognized nutritionist working within the Rowett Institute of Nutrition & Health at the University of Aberdeen. Her main expertise lies in unraveling in vivo mechanisms of bioactive food components at the level of physiology and biochemistry. Her research program assesses novel mechanisms through which dietary fatty acids (such as omega-3 fatty acids) and plant polyphenols affect the development of major chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, and resilience to disease development. This is achieved not only by measuring their effect on validated risk markers (for example lipid levels, hematological function, blood pressure) but also by assessing their effect on novel biomarkers that are currently being identified through nutrigenomics technologies. Her expertise in the area of diet and health has formed the basis of significant contracts and consultancies with various large food companies, food levy boards, the food and drink support sector, and national UK television (Channel 4’s Food Hospital Series). She is the CEO of the Eureopean Nutrigenomics Organisation (NuGO), a network of over 25 Universities and Research Institutes across Europe, focusing on jointly developing the existing research area of nutrigenomics, molecular nutrition and personalised nutrition. She is also the Program Leader of the University of Aberdeen’s Theme "Pathways to a Healthy Life". This Theme is one of the four interdisciplinary Themes initiated as part of the University of Aberdeen’s strategic plan, aiming to facilitate and strengthen interdisciplinary collaborations that address the complex mechanisms by which individuals, lifestyle, the local community, socio-economic and environmental conditions affect healthy 

Dr. Zulfiqar A. Bhutta is the Robert Harding Inaugural Chair in Global Child Health at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, co-Director of the SickKids Centre for Global Child Health, and the Founding Director of the Center of Excellence in Women and Child Health at the Aga Khan University, unique joint appointments. He also holds adjunct professorships at several leading universities globally, including the Schools of Public Health at Johns Hopkins (Baltimore), Tufts University (Boston), University of Alberta, as well as the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. He is a designated Distinguished National Professor of the Government of Pakistan and was the Founding Chair of the National Research Ethics Committee of the Government of Pakistan from 2003 to 2014. Dr. Bhutta is part of the seven-member Independent Expert Review Group (iERG) appointed by the UN Secretary General for monitoring global progress in maternal and child health Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). He represents the global academic and research organizations on the GAVI Alliance Board, and is the co-Chair of the Maternal and Child Health oversight committee of the World Health Organization’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office as well as the Global Countdown for 2015 Steering Group.

Dr. Bhutta was educated at the University of Peshawar (MBBS) and obtained his PhD from the Karolinska Institute, Sweden. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh and London), the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (London), American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Pakistan Academy of Sciences. He heads a large research team in Pakistan with a special interest in research synthesis. Dr. Bhutta’s research interests include newborn and child survival, maternal and child undernutrition, and micronutrient deficiencies.

School of Nutritional Sciences and Institute of Biochemistry, Food Science and Nutrition, The Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

1976–1982      Medical School, Hadassah Medical Center, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

1983                M.D., Rotating Internship, Hadassah Medical Center, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

1989                Board Certification in Pediatrics, Scientific Council, Israel Medical Association

1989–1990      Clinical and Research Fellow, Division of Clinical Nutrition, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada

1990–1992      Clinical and Research Fellow, Division of Gastroenterology, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada

1992                M.Sc, in Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

1994                Board Certification in Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Israel Medical Association

2007                Master in Business Administration (MBA), College of Management, Rishon le-Zion, Israel

Published more than 120 peer reviewed papers in scientific literature

Member of national and international committees on nutrition and food related subjects

Member committees of WHO and European Union

Associate editor of two international journals in the field of inflammation

Main research interests: maternal and child nutrition, vitamin A and iron in inflammation.

Consultant to food  and biotech industry

 

Prof. Howard Cedar was born in New York in 1943.  He received his B.Sc. in Mathematics from M.I.T. and then went on to do an M.D. and Ph.D. in microbiology under the tutelage of Dr. James Schwartz at N.Y.U., graduating in 1970.  He carried out postdoctoral research with Dr. Eric Kandel at N.Y.U. and then with Dr. Gary Felsenfeld at the N.I.H. in the framework of the Public Health Service.  In 1973 he immigrated to Israel where he joined the faculty of the Hebrew University, becoming a full professor in 1981.  Prof. Cedar is the recipient of the Hestrin Award for Biochemistry (1979) and the Hebrew University Outstanding Investigator Award (1991).  He was elected to EMBO in 1982, received the Israel Prize in 1999 and became a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences in 2003.  He received the Wolf Prize in Medicine in 2008 and the Emet Prize in Life Sciences in 2009, the Gairdner International Award in 2011 and the Rothschild Prize for 2012.

Prof. Segal is a Professor at the Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at the Weizmann Institute of Science, heading a lab with a multi-disciplinary team of computational biologists and experimental scientists in the area of Computational and Systems biology. His group has extensive experience in machine learning, computational biology, probabilistic models, and analysis of heterogeneous high-throughput genomic data. His research focuses on Nutrition, Genetics, Microbiome, and Gene Regulation and their effect on health and disease. His aim is to develop personalized nutrition and personalized medicine.

Prof. Segal published over 100 publications, and received several awards and honors for his work, including the Overton prize, awarded annually by the International Society for Bioinformatics (ICSB) to one scientist for outstanding accomplishments in the field of computational biology, and the Michael Bruno award. He was recently elected as an EMBO member and as a member of the young Israeli academy of science.

Before joining the Weizmann Institute, Prof. Segal held an independent research position at Rockefeller University, New York.

Education: Prof. Segal was awarded a B.Sc. in Computer Science summa cum laude in 1998, from Tel-Aviv University, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Genetics in 2004, from Stanford University.

 

Dr. Valentini Konstantinidou holds a PhD in Biomedicine and she is an active researcher in nutritional genomics of Mediterranean diet and olive oil consumption in humans. She has a multidisciplinary academic and professional background and she has published numerous scientific papers, book chapters and dissemination articles. She is an invited lecturer in the University Rey Juan Carlos and University of Alcala, in Madrid, Spain. She is a member of the European Lifestyle Medicine Organization and ambassador of this society in Spain.

She has recently founded her own company to translate scientific, evidence-based nutritional genomics knowledge into precise, personalized lifestyle recommendations for health promotion and diet-related, complex diseases prevention.

Immigrated from the Soviet Union at the age of 3.

2005-2007 Army service

2008-2009 volunteered in non profit organization of eye health research.

2006-today Instructor in Pilates, dancing, kickboxing and other fitness classes.

2011-2014 Nutrition studies at the Hebrew University graduated cum lauda.

Currently graduate student at the Nutrition Lab of the Hebrew University working on microbiome and vitamin A in relation to immunity and growth (under the supervision of Prof. Reifen Ram) 

Nurit Argov-Argaman, earned a Ph.D. in Animal Science from the Hebrew University in 2006, and was a post-doctoral scholar in Prof Bruce German lab at the Food Science and Technology department, UC Davis.

She was hired as a lecturer at 2009 in her original department of Animal Science at the Hebrew University.

Since 2007 Dr Argov-Argaman has investigated the particle with the greatest plasticity in milk- the milk fat globule.  Recent studies demonstrated that the milk fat globule contains a variety of health promoting bioactive molecules and that their concentration and composition in milk is determined by the size of the milk fat globule.

Therefore, Dr Argov-Argaman's team is studying how the milk fat globule size is regulated in a variety of mammals including women, mice cows and goats,  in both in vivo and in vitro models.   The ultimate goal of the Argov-Argaman lab is to develop protocols that will enable to control the size of the secreted milk fat globule which will allow to create a suite of dairy products that deliver superior healthy and safety to the consumer

Dr. Gewirtz earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 1996 from Boston University School of Medicine.  He did postdoctoral studies at Brigham and Women's Hospital/HMS and Emory University, where he later served on faculty from 2000-2011 as Asisstant and Associate Professor. In 2011, he relocated his lab to Georgia State University's Institute for Biomedical Sciences' Center for Inflammation, Immunity and Infection, where he holds the title of University Center Professor.   His research focuses on host-microbe interactions in the intestine, particularly in the context of chronic intestinal inflammation, which he has shown can drive metabolic disease.  Dr. Gewirtz has published over 100 articles in this area and serves on numerous review panels.

Dr. Christopher Rose received his PhD (Biomedical Sciences) from the Université de Montréal in 2000. He continued his research interests in Europe by pursuing post-doctoral studies in Germany (Prof. Kettenmann, Berlin), Spain (Prof. Felipo, Valencia and Prof. Cordoba, Barcelona) and Norway (Dr. Ytrebo, Tromso). In doing so, he was the recipient of 3 prestigious post-doctoral fellowship awards from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Germany), Canadian Institute of Health Research (Canada) and the European Association for the Study of the Liver (Europe). He is currently Associate professor in the Department of Medicine at the Université de Montréal and his laboratory, Hepato-Neuro, has been established at the CRCHUM since 2006. Dr. Rose has published over 50 articles, many in high-impact journals such as New England Journal of Medicine, Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Journal of Hepatology.   

His research interests lie within the area of hepatic encephalopathy, a major neuropsychiatric complication of liver disease. As much as 80% of patients with cirrhosis suffer from hepatic encephalopathy, which leads to substantial morbidity and mortality and has a significant impact on neurological outcome following liver transplantation, the only curative approach to this day. Translational research is the primary objective of Dr. Rose’s laboratory and, therefore, his research program is based on a bench-to-bedside concept. Throughout his career, Dr. Rose has vested interest in identifying the pathogenic factors and the pathophysiological pathways involved in the development of cerebral complications associated with liver disease. Ultimately, the ability to recognize pathogenic factors and mechanisms of the disease will lead to novel therapeutic approaches, which in turn will improve management of patients with liver disease and enhance neurological outcome following liver transplantation.

Dr. Rose’s laboratory is currently funded by the Canadian Institute of Health Research, The Canadian Liver Foundation, and the Fonds de recherche du Québec en santé. He is on the editorial board of Journal of Hepatology and Neurochemistry International. In addition, Dr. Rose is currently Secretary of the International Society for Hepatic Encephalopathy and Nitrogen Metabolism, and chair of the Research Committee of the Canadian Association for the Study of the Liver.  

Geula Hanin,
Lab of Prof. Hermona Soreq
Department of Biological Chemistry
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

1. 2011: Specialization in “Clinical Biochemistry” (five years), Medical Faculty, University of Bari (Italy). Mark: 50/50 cum laude.
2. 2008-2011: Postdoctoral Fellowship, CNR Institute of Clinical Physiology, Lecce Section (Italy), Laboratory of Vascular Biology, Nutrigenomics and Farmacogenomics.
3. 2008: PhD in “Innovative strategies in biomedical research” (three years). Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (SSUP), Pisa (Italy). Mark: 100/100 cum laude.
4. 2006-2007: Postgraduate Course in “Biology of Nutrition” (425 hours).
5. 2002: Degree in Biology, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Natural Sciences, at the University of Salento (Italy).

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

• Cellular and molecular biology of endothelial cell activation, atherogenesis and plaque instability.
• Innate immunity in inflammatory diseases: monocytes/macrophages activation in atherosclerosis and the metabolic syndrome.
• Adipocytes biology in obesity and complications.
• Protective effects of the Mediterranean diet against chronic degenerative diseases:

• Nutritional epidemiology: relationship between nutrition and the etiology of disease; development and evaluation interventions to achieve and maintain healthful eating patterns among populations.
• Effects of dietary polyphenols and fatty acids on the pathophysiology of the endothelium, monocytes/macrophages, and adipocytes with relevance to metabolism, inflammation, oxidative stress, vascular homeostasis, and atherogenesis.
• Mechanisms of the antiatherogenic effects of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids.
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and co-morbidities: pathophysiological mechanisms and effect of the diet.

• Pleiotropic actions of old and new drugs: PPARalpha and PPARgamma ligands; statins; dipyridamole.

 

Professor Lorraine Brennan (BA, PhD, RNutr) is a Conway Fellow and a PI in the UCD Institute of Food and Health. Her research interests revolve around metabolism and altered metabolic pathways in health and disease. She leads a metabolomics research group in UCD and is instrumental in the development of metabolomics for nutritional research. Areas currently under development include:

1. use of a metabolomic approach to identify novel biomarkers of dietary intake
2. use of metabolomic signatures (“metabotypes”) to identify responder’s to dietary interventions in a move towards personalised nutrition.
3. development of functional foods to improve glycemic management

She was awarded an ERC Consolidator grant in 2015. She is a partner in the FP7 projects NutriTech and Food4me. She is a PI in The National Nutrition Phenotype Database where she was responsible for the metabolomics data. She represents the Irish Nutrigenomics Organisation (JINGO) in the Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) ENPADASI.

She has published over 80 peer-reviewed publications including publications in leading journals such as Nature, Diabetes and Diabetalogia. She regularly serves as a reviewer for international journals and since 2010 she is serving as an academic editor in PLoS One. Since 2009, she has delivered 16 invited lectures at International Conferences. Prof Brennan is actively involved in undergraduate teaching and delivers a range of lectures to Human Nutrition and Medical students.

She is a member of the Irish Nutrition Society Executive. In 2014, she was appointed as Director of the European Nutrigenomics Organisation (NuGO).

Prof Brennan has a strong interest in linking research and teaching and in 2014 was appointed a UCD Teaching Fellow to explore these links (http://www.ucd.ie/teaching/fellows/).