Funded Seed Grants

Development of a Culturally-Tailored Electronic Dietary Assessment Tool to Support Personalized and Inclusive Cuisines in Environments for Healthcare (SPICE-Healthcare)
Minakshi Raj, PhD, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Kinesiology & Community Health (PI)
Naiman Khan, PhD, RD, Associate Professor, Dept. of Kinesiology & Community Health (Co-PI)
Margarita Teran-Garcia, MD, PhD, Assistant Dean and Program Leader for Integrated Health Disparities, Extension (Co-PI)
Ian Brooks, PhD, Research Scientist &b Director of Center for Health Informatics, ISchool
Lisa Gatzke, Lead, UIX Team, National Center for Supercomputing Applications (Co-I)

Real-Time Salivary Hormone Assaying and Individualized Research Dissemination: Proof of Concept with Transformative Potential
Jacinda K. Dariotis, PhD, Professor, Dept. of Human Development & Family Studies (PI)
Brian Cunningham, PhD, Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (Co-PI)
Jenna Riis, PhD, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Kinesiology & Community Health (Co-PI)

Diet and Microbial Factors in Colorectal Cancer: Spanning the Spectrum of Diet and Risk from Native Africans to Native Alaskans
Jason Ridlon, PhD, Associate Professor, Dept. of Animal Sciences (PI)
Hannah Holscher, PhD, RD, Associate Professor, Dept. of Food Science & Human Nutrition (Co-PI)
Sören Ocvirk, PhD, Institute for Food & Health, Technical University of Munich (Co-PI)
Lisa Tussing-Humphreys, PhD, RD, Associate Professor of Kinesiology and Nutrition, UIC (Co-I)
Karthik Anantharaman, PhD, Associate Professor of Bacteriology, U of Wisconsin at Madison (Co-I)
Rex Gaskins, PhD, Professor, Dept. of Animal Sciences (Co-I)
Stephen J.D. O’Keefe, MBBS, MD, MSc, MRCS, FRCP, Professor of Medicine, U of Pittsburgh (Co-I)
Chun-Jun (CJ) Guo, PhD, Assistant Professor, Microbiology & Immunology in Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine (Co-I)

From Prediction to Intervention: Utilizing Machine Learning for Cognitive Outcome Forecasting Following the MIND Diet Intervention (joint with NCSA)
Naiman Khan, PhD, RD, Associate Professor, Department of Kinesiology and Community Health (PI)
Hannah Holscher, PhD, RD, Associate Professor, Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition (Co-PI)
Ruoqing Zhu, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Statistics (Co-PI)
Shreya Verma, MS, Doctoral Student, Department of Kinesiology and Community Health (Co-I)

Applying Artificial Intelligence to Achieve Personalized, Precision-Based Nutritional Monitoring and Guidance
Volodymyr Kindratenko, PhD, Assistant Director, National Center for Supercomputing Applications (PI)
Sharon Donovan, PhD, RD, Professor and Melissa M. Noel Endowed Chair in Nutrition and Health, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition (Co-PI)

High-Resolution Acoustic Imaging for Studying Dietary-induced Hepatic Changes
Yun-Sheng Chen, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (PI)
Nu-Chu Liang, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology (Co-PI)
Junxi Yi, Doctoral Student, Department of Bioengineering (Co-I)
Chan Young (Jim) Choi, Doctoral Student, Department of Psychology (Co-I)

Continuous Capture of Infant Feeding, Motor Activity, and Sleep Biorhythms via an Infant Wearable Platform and Machine Learning Approaches (joint with CSBS)
Nancy McElwain, PhD, Professor, Dept. of Human Development & Family Studies (PI)
Mark Hasegawa-Johnson, PhD, Professor, Dept of Electrical & Computer Engineering (Co-PI)
Dominika M. Pindus, PhD, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Kinesiology & Community Health (Co-PI)
Bashima Islam, PhD, Visiting Postdoctoral Associate, Dept. of Human Development & Family Studies and Assistant Professor, Dept of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Co-PI)
Charles Davies, MD, PhD, Dept. of Sleep Medicine, Carle Foundation Hospital (Co-I)
Maria Davila, PhD, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Psychiatry, UNC-Chapel Hill (Consultant)

Identify the Role of Dysbiotic Gut Microbiota on Driving Colitis-Associated Colorectal Cancer Development
Wenyan Mei, PhD, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Comparative Biosciences (PI)
Shulei Wang, PhD, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Statistics (Co-PI)

From Neuro-pigments to Neuroimaging: Linking Macular Carotenoids to Brain Structural Integrity in Childhood
Naiman Khan, PhD, RD, Associate Professor, Dept. of Kinesiology & Community Health (PI)
Bradley Sutton, PhD, Professor, Dept. of Bioengineering (Co-PI)
Corinne Cannavale, PhD, Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Kinesiology & Community Health (Co-PI)

Quantifying Mechanistic Links Between Nutrition and Cancer
Catherine Blake, PhD, Professor, School of Information Sciences (PI)
Zeynep Madak Erdogan, PhD, Associate Professor, Dept. of Food Sci. & Human Nutrition (Co-PI)
Catherine Carpenter, PhD, Professor, David Geffen School of Medicine, Fielding School of Public Health and School of Nursing, University of California (Consultant)

Diet and Adiposity as Potential Effect Modifiers in the Relationship Between the Oxidative Potential of Particulate Matter and Inflammation in Children
Sheena Martenies, PhD, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Kinesiology & Community Health (PI)
Vishal Verma, PhD, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering (Co-PI)
Naiman Khan, PhD, RD, Associate Professor, Dept. of Kinesiology & Community Health (Co-PI)
Brenda Koester, MS, Associate Director, Family Resiliency Center, Dept. of Kinesiology & Community Health (Co-PI)

Optimizing Bioactive Metabolites in Fermented Foods to Improve Human Immune Function
Jacob Allen, PhD, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Kinesiology & Community Health (PI)
Michael Miller, PhD, Professor, Dept. of Food Science & Human Nutrition (Co-PI)
Sergei Maslov, PhD, Professor, Dept. of Bioengineering (Co-PI)

Data Collection and Analysis Pipeline to Investigate Personalized Gastrointestinal Motility Responses to Diet
Brett Loman, PhD, RD, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Animal Sciences (PI)
Yogatheesan Varatharajah, PhD, Research Assistant Professor, Dept. of Bioengineering (Co-PI)

Mining the Scientific Literature to Support Personalized Nutrition Applications
(joint with NCSA & External Partners gift)
Halil Kilicoglu, PhD, Associate Professor, School of Information Sciences (PI)
Hannah Holscher, PhD, RD, Associate Professor, Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition (Co-PI)

Spatial Analysis to Develop Personalized Dietary Interventions for Liver Metastatic Tumors (joint with NCSA)
Zeynep Madak Erdogan, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition (PI)
Maria Grosse Perdekamp, MD, Medical Oncologist/Hematologist, Medical Oncology, Carle Cancer Center (Co-PI)
Aiman Soliman, PhD, Research Scientist, National Center for Supercomputing Applications (Co-PI)

The Role of Self-Regulatory Processes in the Development of Children’s Eating Behaviors (joint with CSBS)
Kelly Bost, PhD, Professor, Department of Human Development & Family Studies (PI)
Florin Dolcos, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology (Co-PI)
Sanda Dolcos, PhD, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology (Co-PI)

PNDataLab: A Cloud-based Data Lab for Personalized Nutrition
(External Partners gift)
ChengXiang Zhai, PhD, Professor, Department of Computer Science (PI)
Hannah Holscher, PhD, RD, Associate Professor, Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition (Co-PI)
Saurabh Sinha, PhD, Professor, Department of Computer Science (Co-PI)
Sharon Donovan, PhD, RD, Professor and Melissa M. Noel Endowed Chair in Nutrition and Health, Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition (Co-I)
Ruoqing Zhu, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Statistics (Co-I)

Digital Solutions for Correcting Consumers’ Misconceptions about Food and Nutrition
Leona Yi-Fan Su, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Advertising (PI)
Yi-Cheng Wang, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition (Co-PI)

Application of Biosensor Technology and the Activate Capture and Digital Counting Assay for Minimally Invasive Detection of microRNA (miRNA) in Human Milk and Neonatal Plasma
Sharon Donovan, PhD, RD, Professor and Melissa M. Noel Endowed Chair in Nutrition and Health, Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition (PI)
Brian Cunningham, PhD, Professor, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering (Co-PI)
Marcia Monaco Siegel, PhD, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition (Co-I)

MEXIMEDI Diet: A Personalized and Cultural Adaptation to Improve Health Outcomes in Mexican Adults
Margarita Teran-Garcia, MD, PhD, Assistant Dean & Program Leader for Integrated Health Disparities, Extension (PI)
Ruoqing Zhu, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Statistics (Co-PI)
Sharon Donovan, PhD, RD, Professor and Melissa M. Noel Endowed Chair in Nutrition and Health, Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition (Co-I)
Maribel Barragan, BS, RD, Doctoral Student, Division of Nutritional Sciences (Co-I)