Can Egg Consumption Moderate the Inflammatory Response in Division I Collegiate Gymnasts?

Can Egg Consumption Moderate the Inflammatory Response in Division I Collegiate Gymnasts?

Dr. Ruth Litchfield

Community Partner:

-Iowa Egg Council

Goals:

-Student will be assisting with laboratory and dietary analysis procedures.

Objectives:

-Student will assist with ELISA kits to quantify presence of inflammatory markers in serum samples.

-Studentwill assist with scoring food records using Healthy Eating Index (HEI).

Skills or Tools to be used:

-ELISA Kits

-5-Day Food Records analyzed using Food Processor and HEI

Expected Engagement with Community Partner:

-Student will assist with preparation and presentation (oral or poster) of finding for the community partner.

Virulence, Persistence, and Preventative Measures Against Foodborne Escherichia Coli

Dr. Melha Mellata

Community Stakeholders:

-Food Producers

Goals:

-To perform microbiological work on foodborne pathogens to better define their virulence to humans, persistencein animals/food, and preventive measures against infections.

Objectives:

-To characterize virulence and persistence mechanisms used by foodborne E. coli strains.

Skills or Tools to be Used:

-Prepare growth media, microbiology supplies, and bacterial cultures.

-Learn to use ELISA, PCR, RNA Isolation, and Western Blot tools.

-Enhance ability to communicate scientific findings through weekly laboratory research meeting presentations.

Expected Engagement with Community Partner:

-Scholar will connect with community partners throughout Iowa that work in the food production industry.

-Scholar will be expected to engage with stakeholders by touring food production facilities and gain information in careers in the food production industry.

-Industry partners will contribute to the development of the scholar’s knowledge in industry practices in food production relating to producing a safe and healthy product.

Identifying the Epigenetic Mechanisms Underlying the Antibesogenic Effects of Dietary Whole Egg Consumption

Dr. Kevin Schalinske, Dr. Stephanie Clark, & Dr. Matt Rowling

Goals:

-Test the hypothesis: Weight reduction and decrease in body fat in diabetic rats fed a whole egg-baseddiet is the result of the miRNA content found in whole eggs and the ability of the miRNAs to down- regulate obese-prone genes.

-Determine if miRNAs present in whole eggs are absorbed in a rodent model of obesity type 2 diabetes.

Objectives:

• Determine the miRNA content present in the circulation following 8 weeks of feeding a whole-egg diet using a polygenic model of obesity.
• Determine miRNA content in select tissues, such as adipose.
• Use cell culture models with adipocytes and exosome-encapsulated miRNA in the media to support the in-vivo studies.
• Examine miRNA-containing exosomes and their impact on gene expression.

Skills or Tools to be Used:

• Formulate a rodent diet
• Feed and weigh rats for the 8-week experimental period
• Collect tissues and blood
• Cell culture techniques

The Role of Metabolism Genes in Brain Development and Aging

Dr. Auriel A. Willette

Goals:

• Learn the basics of neuroimaging and how it is integrated into the field of nutritional sciences.
• Gain experience processing brain images, collating cognitive data, and conducting analyses on how genetic variation in individuals predicts brain growth in children and/or brain atrophy in elders, as well as effects on cognitive processes like memory and executive function.

Objectives:

-Student will learn how to take 3D and 4D images of brains and process them.

-Student will assist post-docs and graduate students with existing projects that integrate brain, nutrition, DEXA, andbehavioral data among thousands of subjects.

Skills or Tools to be Used:

-Specialized software for standardizing large 4D datasets of brain activity

-Data Collection

-Statistical assessment

-Ability to follow established SOPs

-Literature reviews of nutritional biomarkers available in secondary data sets for use with brain images in statistical analyses

Expected Engagement with Community Partner:

-No required engagement

-Students have the option to interface with local Alzheimer’s Association chapter or broadly engage with community partners that have an active interest in the research

Revision of the Balanced Living with Diabetes (BLD) Program

Dr. Sarah L. Francis

CommunityStakeholder: Black Iowans

Goals:

-Revise the BLD Curriculum developed by Virginia Tech University to meet the needs and preferences ofBlack Iowans.

-Long term goal is to implement the BLD program through Iowa State University’s Human SciencesExtension and Outreach.

Objectives:

-Identify and test culturally appropriate recipes to coincide with BLD weekly lessons.

-Revise the curriculum to meet ISU Human Sciences Extension and Outreach branding guidelines and to meet the “best practices” of reaching black audiences based on current nutrition education literature.

-Pilot test lessons with target audience to gather feedback on structure and content.

-Assist with data collection (e.g., focus groups, survey data).

Skills or Tools to be Used:

-Test recipes for ease of preparation, taste, and nutrition content

-Be comfortable reading and interpreting research articles to identify how to structure sessions

-Have interpersonal and collaboration skills

-Be flexible

-Attention to detail

-Comfortable working with diverse audiences

-Have a base understanding of effective teaching strategies

Expected Engagement with Community Partner:

We will be working closely with Drs. Tera Jordan (HDFS) and AsaniSeawell (Pacific University) and black Iowans to complete this research project. The team will meet regularly (via zoom) to discuss our progress. The research team will host pilot sessions with members of the target audience to gather input about the session structure and content in mid- to late-July. This information will be used to finalize the curriculum. In Fall 2018 the research team will seek additional grant funding through internal and external RFPs to pilot test the program.

Influence of Plant-Derived Extracts with Non-thermal Technologies on Microbial and Physio- Chemical Characteristics of Foods

Dr. Shannon Coleman and Dr. Aubrey Mendonca

CommunityStakeholder: Consumers and poultry industry

Goals:

-Evaluate the antimicrobial efficacy of essential oils against enteric pathogens in marinated chicken breast meat and skin at refrigerated temperatures

Skills or Tools to be Used:

-Preparation of growth media, microbiology supplies, and bacterial cultures

-Learn microbiological procedures:

• Aerobic
• Salmonella enterica
• Campylobacter jejuni

Development of Baked Products with Resistant Starch- Impact on Quality

Dr. Terri D. Boylston

Goals:

-To develop baked products with increased resistant starch content with acceptable sensory quality attributes.

Objectives:

-Determine maximum level in which resistant starch can be incorporated into selected baked products(biscuits, cookies, muffins)

-Measure sensory quality (color, texture, flavor) of baked products with increased resistant starch content using instrument and sensory methods.

Skills or Tools to be Used:

-Product development

-Instrumental analysis of color, texture and flavor

-Sensory evaluation

-Chemical analysis of resistant starch content

Expected Engagement with Community Partner:

-Interact with nutrition students and faculty to engage the public about the health benefits of resistant starch

Dissemination of Best Practices Workshop for Healthy Food Access Project

Dr. Shannon Coleman and Dr. Smaranda “Sandy” Andrews

Community Partner/Stakeholder:

-Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program Education, Master Gardeners, 4-H, Iowa State Extension and Outreach Local Foods Team

Goals:

-Dissemination and evaluation of best practices workshop for master gardeners and youth associated with healthy foods access project.

Objectives:

-Conducting hands-on pre- and post-harvest food safety workshops for Master Gardeners and 4-H youth associated with a healthy food access project.

Skills or Tools to be Used:

-Assisting in the dissemination of general gardening, harvesting and food safety best practices for master gardeners

-Communicating with target audience on general knowledge on food safety and general interest in food security

-Ability to travel and work outside on hot summer days

Expected Engagement with Community Partner:

-Students will actively engage with Iowa Master Gardeners, the general public, extension and outreach staff, and potentially with food pantry staff and clients

-TheIowa State University Extension and Outreach Master Gardener program has teamed up with Human Sciences Extension staff to increase food security in Iowa.“Growing Together Iowa” combines the efforts of Human Sciences with Agriculture and Natural Resources for a common goal – feeding people. For the second yearin a row, our SNAP-Ed nutrition education and our Master Gardeners partnered with local food pantries to reduce food insecurity in Iowa.

Exploring Bioaccessibility of Retinyl Palmitate (Vit A) Entrapped in Edible Oleogel Matrices

Dr. Nuria Acevedo

Goals:

Edible oleogels have received much attention over the last few years due to their wide range ofpotential applications in the food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical fields. Oleogels, gels behaving as solid or semi-solid, where the liquid phase is an oil can be used for the delivery of bioactivemolecules due to their structure, composition and functional properties. However, the fate of bioactive components entrapped in oleogels during digestion needs exploration. In our previousresearch, we have been able to entrap and protect retinyl palmitate (RP) in matrices of policasanololeogels as a potential carrier of such bioactive component. The next step is to evaluate the ability of these matrices to efficiently deliver (RP) The overall goal of this project isto study accessibility of retinyl palmitate entrapped in an oleogel matrix through simulation of in-vitro oral, gastric and duodenal digestive stages.

Objectives:

-Analyze the in vitro digestion of policosanol oleogelswith different compositions and to study the potential of these oleogels for the delivery of RP.

-Study functional properties of the produced oleogels to establish relationships, if any, between mechanical strength and physical stability of the oleogels in vitro digestibility and RP bioaccessibility, and BC stability in the oleogel matrix.

Skills or Tools to be Used:An in-vitro gastrointestinal model, described by Shim et al. (2010) and Wootton-Beard et al. (2011), will be used to determine lipid digestibility and the extent of RP bioaccessibility after simulation of the human buccal, gastric and duodenal digestion. Briefly, buccal digestion will be simulated by adding 40ml of alpha-amylase solution (0.2 mg ml−1, in 20 mM phosphate buffer, pH 7.0) to 100gr of oleogel followed by homogenization at 37 °C in a shaking water bath at 55 rpm for 3 min. Then, acidification to a pH 2 with 2M HCl will carried out (gastric digestion simulation) followed by addition of 60 ml gastric juice (0.27 mg pepsin per ml, in 0.1 M HCl) and shaker homogenization at 55 rpm for 1 h at 37 °C. After that the small intestine simulation will be reached by increasing the pH to 7 with 1 M sodium bicarbonate solution. Subsequently, 40 ml bile acids and 40 ml pancreatic juice (pancreatin 0.4 mg ml−1, bile acids 0.4 mg ml−1 in 20 mM phosphate buffer, pH 7.0) will be incorporated and homogenized for 2 h at 37 °C. The degree of lipolysis and RP extraction from in vitro samples will be determined at different times during duodenal digestions (times=0, 5, 10, 15, 30, 40, 45, 60, 120, and 180 min). For the degree of lipolysis, free fatty acids concentration will be determined using a non-esterified free fatty acid (NEFA) kit (Wako Diagnostics, Mountain View, CA, USA) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. RP will be extracted from the in vitro samples and measured via the HPLC method developed in our lab. Visualization of RP by using Fluorescence Microscopy in the different fractions will be also carry out.