Seed Grants

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)