PRECISION NUTRITION: RESEARCHING HOW EACH OF US CAN EAT UNIQUELY FOR OPTIMAL HEALTH.

• Position: RESEARCH: NORTH CAROLINA: UNC NUTRITION RESEARCH INSTITUTE

An internationally recognized center, the UNC Nutrition Research Institute (NRI) conducts innovative basic and translational science to establish how individual differences in nutrient requirements and responses to diet affect our nutritional needs.

The NRI is a unit of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is located on the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis, NC. NRI principal investigators hold faculty appointments in the departments of Nutrition and Psychology and the School of Social Work at UNC-Chapel Hill. Their research questions nutrient roles in disease prevention and risk with an emphasis on some of the most urgent nutrition-related, chronic health concerns facing our society today--brain health, cancer, and cardiometabolic diseases--across the lifespan from periconception through aging.

Our scientists have demonstrated, in specific populations, the need for certain essential nutrients, the high-risk nature of some diets, the link between obesity and cancer, and the prevalence of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. This work explores the impact of gene-environment and gene-nutrient interactions by using advanced approaches including nutrigenetics, epigenetics, nutrigenomics, metabolomics and microbiomics.

The NRI houses research cores that offer a wide range of services to researchers. Cores offer shared resources including cutting-edge technologies, high-end instrumentation, technical support, and education. NRI cores enhance and expand the collaborative capabilities of research at the institute, at the North Carolina Research Campus, across the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, and throughout the worldwide research community.

The Human Research Core features one of the few whole-room human calorimeters in the United States. This advanced research suite uses indirect calorimetry to evaluate a research participants 24-hour energy intake and expenditure. The suite is equipped with a bed, treadmill, bathroom, airlock chamber for food delivery, ports for blood draws, and entertainment options. Data can be collected without interruption during meals, sleep, and light activity. The whole-room calorimeter is essential for studies on energy balance and fuel use.

Located in the greater Charlotte region, Kannapolis is a blossoming community, steeped in history, full of charm, and currently experiencing a remarkable renaissance in its downtown. The people who make up the NRI have wide-ranging expertise and skills--professors of...