Seed Grants – Personalized Nutrition Initiative

Call for Proposals – 2024 Seed Grants

Submission Deadline: January 22, 2024 | 11:59 p.m. CT
Funding available: up to $50,000 per proposal

This is a special joint call for proposals with the Center for Social and Behavioral Science (CSBS) and the Healthcare Innovation Program Office at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA).

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Personalized Nutrition Initiative seed grants aim to catalyze unique interdisciplinary personalized nutrition-related research across the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus. The Personalized Nutrition Initiative at Illinois was launched in 2020 and is supported by the leadership of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation in partnership with the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology and the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences.

We are seeking proposals from interdisciplinary teams for projects with the potential to provide new transformative innovations in personalized nutrition or solutions to personalized nutrition-related barriers. A maximum of $50,000 may be requested over 2 years. To be eligible, the Principal Investigator (PI) must be an Affiliate member of the Personalized Nutrition Initiative. The proposal must involve Co-PIs from at least two different departments/colleges.

The goals of Seed Grants are for Affiliates to:

Develop exploratory research ideas that require the involvement of multiple disciplines
Develop research ideas that have the potential to impact human health
Identify a research question(s) that relates to one or more of the Personalized Nutrition Initiative research themes and cross-cutting areas
Collect preliminary data or other relevant information to address research questions
Conduct sample data analysis or create visualizations that can be used as a proof-of-concept
Prepare, develop, and submit research proposals for external funding

Projects will be expected to achieve proposed milestones. Progress reports will be required at the end of the first year, which may affect continual funding. The expected product of the seed grant is a submission of an interdisciplinary research proposal to an external funding agency, such as USDA, NIH, NSF, DOD, DOE, or another federal agency, industry, or foundation.

Interested parties should submit a Research Proposal, including a research plan and a budget (see Submission Instructions for more details). A review panel will evaluate proposals and forward a recommendation to the Director of the Personalized Nutrition Initiative. Funding decisions will be announced within 6 weeks after the submission deadline.

Funded Seed Grants

July 2023 Seed Grant Awardees

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)

June 2022 Seed Grant Awardees

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)

Jan 2022 Seed Grant Awardees

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)