UW-Madison Metabolism and Nutrition Training Program (MANTP) (NIH T32)
Faculty Trainer Research Descriptions
(Click the above link to download more detailed research descriptions.)
Rozalyn Anderson, PhD (Prof. of Medicine). Metabolism of aging and delay of aging by caloric restriction.
Alan Attie, PhD (Prof. of Biochemistry) Studies the genetics of obesity, diabetes, and metabolic diseases, as well as the genetics of diet responsiveness.
Vincent Cryns, MD (Prof. of Medicine) Studies metabolic stress and cancer, including nutritional interventions such as methionine restriction as novel therapeutic paradigms for cancer.
Dawn Davis, MD, PhD (Assoc. Prof. of Medicine) Changes in pancreatic beta cell gene expression in response to obesity and in the setting of beta cell proliferation.
John Denu, PhD (Prof. of Biomolecular Chemistry) Investigates the biological function of acetylation and other reversible protein modifications modulating signal transduction, gene activation and intermediary metabolism.
Rick Eisenstein, PhD (Prof. of Nutritional Sciences) Studies how erythropoiesis and iron metabolism are controlled and coordinated including how dysregulation of molecular sensors of iron and oxygen causes disease.
Corinne Engelmann, PhD (Prof. of Population Health Sciences) Genetic, demographic, behavioral, physiological, and environmental correlates of vitamin D levels in the blood; association between vitamin D and other health outcomes, such as blood pressure and lipid concentrations.
Feyza Engin, PhD (Assoc. Prof. of Biomolecular Chemistry) Understanding chronic inflammatory disease induced by diet and other factors. How bile-acids induce alterations of the gut microbiome in type 1 diabetes; dysregulation of sphingolipid homeostasis in dietary- or genetically-induced models of type 2 diabetes and obesity.
Luke Funk, MD, MPH (Assoc. Prof. of Surgery) Uses mixed-methods approaches and clinical trials to identify barriers to obesity care and test interventions designed to increase use of obesity treatments.
James Gern, MD (Prof. of Medicine) Studies how respiratory viruses and other environmental exposures including vitamin D metabolism and food allergies affect the onset of allergic diseases and asthma.
Guy Groblewski, PhD (Prof. of Nutritional Sciences) Studies the molecular mechanisms of membrane trafficking events in digestive epithelial cells of the pancreas and how their dysregulation leads to pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer.
Laura Hernandez, PhD (Prof. of Dairy Sciences) Studies the ability of the autocrine and paracrine factors in the mammary gland to coordinate maternal metabolism during lactation.
Michelle Kimple, PhD (Assoc. Prof. of Medicine) Elucidating how dysfunctional G protein-coupled receptor signaling contributes to the pathogenesis of type 1 and type 2 diabetes and using this information to improve treatments.
HuiChuan Lai, PhD (Prof. of Nutritional Sciences) Studies how nutrition affects the onset and progression of pediatric chronic diseases including cystic fibrosis (CF), asthma, and obesity.
Dudley Lamming, PhD (Assoc. Prof. of Medicine) Studies the regulation of healthy aging by what, when, and how we eat.
Vanessa Leone, PhD (Asst. Prof. of Animal Biologics and Metabolism) Studies the intersection of diet, gut microbes, circadian rhythms, and metabolism using preclinical models.
Matthew Merrins, PhD (Assoc. Prof. of Medicine and Biomolecular Chemistry) Ability of pancreatic islet beta cells to trigger cell proliferation and release of insulin during periods of increased insulin needs.
Joshua Mezrich, MD (Assoc. Prof. of Surgery) Transplant tolerance and how environmental exposures including diet alter the immune system.
Brian Parks, PhD (Asst. Prof. of Nutritional Sciences) Studies how interactions between genetics and diet contribute to obesity and diabetes.
Federico Rey, PhD (Assoc. Prof. of Bacteriology) Microbe-nutrient interactions and cardiometabolic disease.
Scott Reeder, MD, PhD (Prof. of Radiology, Med. Eng. and Med. Physics) Developing MRI methods for quantification of abdominal adiposity, liver fat, liver iron overload and other features of diffuse liver disease, hemodynamics of portal hypertension, and the use of new contrast agents in liver and biliary diseases.
William Schrage, PhD (Prof. of Kinesiology) Human cardiovascular control during exercise or environmental stress, focused on the impact of obesity and insulin resistance on blood flow regulation to skeletal muscle and brain.
Sherry Tanumihardjo, PhD (Prof. of Nutritional Sciences) Studies methods for vitamin A assessment and carotenoid bioavailability emphasizing provitamin A carotenoids in staple crops to improve vitamin A status world-wide.
Amy Trentham-Dietz, PhD (Prof. of Pop. Health Sciences) Diet and other modifiable risk factors in cancer prevention.
JP van Pijkeren, PhD (Assoc. Prof. of Food Science) Studies diet-microbe-phage interactions in the gut ecosystem and development of microbial therapeutics.
Eric Yen, PhD (Assoc. Prof. of Nutritional Sciences) Studies intestinal lipid processing and systemic metabolism.