Research
Advancing discovery in nutrition and metabolic health
Research overview
The NMHC supports four mentored research project leaders whose projects address complementary questions in nutrition and metabolic health. Together, their work examines how environmental exposures, physical activity, maternal nutrition, host defense, mitochondrial function, liver disease and muscle health shape disease risk and resilience. By pairing innovative research with multidisciplinary mentorship and shared core resources, the center helps investigators develop discoveries that can advance prevention, treatment and healthy aging.
Featured research projects
Banrida Wahlang, PhD
Persistent organic pollutants and sex-specific metabolic dysfunction
Examines how persistent organic pollutants and diet interact to drive sex-specific liver injury and metabolic dysfunction, with emphasis on mechanisms linking environmental exposure, nutrition, endocrine signaling and women’s metabolic health.
Andrew Gibb, PhD
Influence of the malate-aspartate shuttle in striated muscle metabolic health and performance
Investigates how the mitochondrial transporter SLC25A11 and the malate-aspartate shuttle regulate skeletal and cardiac muscle metabolism, exercise capacity and adaptation to exercise training.
Ryan Doster, PhD
Effect of maternal nutrition on antimicrobial properties of breast milk
Studies how maternal nutrition influences breast-milk carbohydrates and their ability to protect infants from Group B Streptococcus, linking maternal diet, milk composition, host-pathogen interactions and neonatal infection risk.
Josiah Hardesty, PhD
Nutritional interventions to improve mitochondrial health
Investigates how cardiolipin and dietary fiber influence mitochondrial health in liver and skeletal muscle, with the goal of identifying nutritional strategies for metabolic liver disease and sarcopenia.
Pilot project program
The NMHC pilot project program supports innovative research addressing nutrition and metabolic health. The program is designed to generate preliminary data, foster new collaborations, provide access to NMHC core resources and position investigators for independent external funding.
Sophia Sears, PhD
The Sophia Sears Lab's mission is to understand how different lifestyles and comorbidities influence kidney health. The lab examines how factors such as nutrition, exercise, and cardiovascular disease influence renal inflammation, and how changes in the immune landscape of the kidney affect renal blood flow and sodium handling. Their goal in understanding these relationships is to improve cardiorenal health across the lifespan.