We are excited to announce the 2018-2019 graduate student leaders of Nutrition Science Graduate Association (NSGA):
President – Jenny Deluca
Tresurer– Tara Price
Communications Officer– DaMi Kim
Events Coordinator– Erika Garcia-Villatoro
Graduate and Professional Student Council Representative– Destiny Matthews
Food Science & Technology students on the 2018 College Bowl team
Congratulations to the Food Science students on the College Bowl team on winning first place in the South Central Region competition on April 13, 2018. Their next competition will be competing next at Nationals Chicago!
Since 1985, the IFTSA College Bowl Competition has tested the knowledge of student teams from across the United States in the areas of food science and technology, history of foods and food processing, food law, and general IFT/food-related trivia.
The College Bowl is designed to facilitate interaction among students from different universities, stimulate the students’ desire to accumulate and retain knowledge, and provide a forum for students to engage in friendly competition. Teams for IFT Student Chapters in eight geographical areas of the Student Association compete in area competitions prior to the IFT Annual Meeting. The winning teams from the eight areas then compete in a final competition at the Annual Meeting.
Dr. Chew & Dr. Creasy
Dr. Rebecca Creasy, Lecturer in the Department of Nutrition and Food Science, received the Gail W. and David P. Marion ’65 Teaching Award in Memory of Dr. Richard C. Potts ’45 at the Texas A&M University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ 61st Annual Convocation on Saturday, April 14, 2018.
Mr. Marion & Dr. Creasy
Jesus Garcia, Dr. Creasy, Johnna Pieniazek, & Dr. Chew
The award is given to a professor who is an exceptional teacher and who has demonstrated outstanding mentorship to underclassmen in our college. It was established by the Marion family through the Association of Former Students of Texas A&M University in memory of Dr. Potts to recognize a faculty member in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences who teaches and mentors freshmen and sophomore students and is an effective communicator. Recipients of the award are selected by the members of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Student Council.
Dr. Richard Potts ’45 was a respected administrator and faculty member in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences who contributed to the success of Texas A&M University. He loved and respected his students like his own children, knowing that sometimes they just needed someone to talk to. Dr. Potts was a great mentor to David Marion, who benefited greatly from Dr. Potts mentorship during his time as a student at Texas A&M University, and the award was begun in 2012 by his family as a tribute to Dr. Potts.
Creasy’s experience in food science and nutrition spans from the food industry to higher education and community outreach. Her instructional focus at Texas A&M has been on introductory nutrition courses, study abroad programs, and undergraduate food science courses. She enjoys mentoring both graduate and undergraduate students as a Leadership Coach with the Maroon & White Leadership Program, as well as an advisor for the Institute of Food Technologists Student Association, the Aggie Golden Arrows Women’s Leadership Organization, and the Omega Phi Alpha Service Sorority. She has also led Study Abroad Texas – Food Science and co-led the Mediterranean Nutrition and Food Processing Study Abroad, and recently coordinated the 2018 Texas FFA Food Science Career Development Event Clinic.
Creasy received a BSA in Food Science from the University of Georgia and a PhD in Food Science and Human Nutrition, and minor in Agricultural Education and Communication, from the University of Florida.
Yagmur Yegin, a doctoral student at Texas A&M University was selected to receive the following awards in the year 2017.
2017 – ‘Susan M. Arseven ‘75 Make-A-Difference Memorial Award’ Recipient from Women in Science and Engineering (WISE)
This award seeks to encourage women students pursuing advanced degrees in science and engineering fields.
2017 – Peanut Proud Scholarship Award – IAFP Annual Meeting in Tampa, FL, July 9-12, 2017
The scholarship is sponsored by Peanut Proud, Inc. to reward a selected U.S. graduate student who recognizes the importance of food safety and desires to help build the confidence of consumers by insuring the best quality food. Ms. Yegin was invited to International Association of Food Protection (IAFP) Meeting 2017 in Tampa, FL to receive her award. The Peanut Proud Scholarship awards the selected student a $2,000 cash prize and covers all expenses to attend the IAFP Meeting.
2017 – Focusing on Industrial Recruitment of Scientific Talent (FIRST) Conference selected recipient in Cincinnati, OH, September 17-21, 2017 sponsored by The Procter & Gamble Company.
FIRST is a five-day, all expense-paid professional conference held on September 17-21, 2017, in Cincinnati, OH sponsored by The Procter & Gamble Company. FIRST is a very competitive conference to be selected, which gives a great insight about challenges, career opportunities, and expectations in industrial research. Selected participants learn about R&D at P&G, and understand the important parameters essential to succeed in a technical career in academia, private sector, or government.
Yagmur Yegin is currently a Ph.D. student under supervision of Dr. Alejandro Castillo in the Department of Nutrition and Food Science at Texas A&M University. She holds a B.S. degree in Food Engineering from Celal Bayar University-Turkey, and an M.S. degree in Biological and Agricultural Engineering from Texas A&M University. Yagmur`s research interests are focused on various fields including nanotechnology applications in food safety, controlled release of active ingredients in food systems, synthesis and characterization of antimicrobial nanoparticles, and effect of surface chemistry and topography on bacterial attachment. Additionally, Yagmur is also a Certified Food Scientist (CFS).
Congratulations on your achievements Yagmur. Gig’em!
Dr. Susanne Talcott has recently published the initial results from a study linking a positive effect on IBD with increased consumption of mangos. Congratulations Dr. Talcott!
Derek Seidel was selected to receive a 2017 Young Investigator Award from the Society of Experimental Biology and Medicine (SEBM) at this year’s Experimental Biology conference held in Chicago, IL. Derek’s presentation was entitled, “Dried Plums Modify the Colon Luminal Metabolome in a Rat Model of Colon Carcinogenesis.”
Congratulations to Erika L Garcia-Villatora for being selected as the 2017 recipient of the ASN Grand Prize for Young Minority Investigators, sponsored by DSM Nutritional Products. Erika’s presentation was entitled ‘The aryl hydrocarbon receptor is a repressor of colorectal cancer development induced by a high-fat diet in mice’.
Kristen Hicks, a PhD student under Dr. Peter Murano is a recipent of the prestigious 2017 U.S. Senator Phil Gramm Doctoral Fellowship. The Fellowship recognizes Kristen’s outstanding academic record and contributions in research, teaching, and mentoring. She was honored April 6th at an Awards Ceremony held at the Stark Galleries, MSC.
Congratulations Kristen Hicks and Dr. Peter Murano!
Dr. Stephen Talcott, Ph.D., Professor of Food Science at a joyful reunion with three of his former Ph.D. students at the IFT meeting in Chicago. All three are in exciting innovative positions within Food Science. From left to right: Dr. Jorge Cardona, ’10, Associate Professor, Zamorano University, Honduras, Dr. Stephen Talcott, Dr. Christopher Duncan, ’10, Process Optimization Manager. Land O’ Frost, Lansing, IN, Youngmok Kim, ’08, Senior Scientist, Product Development, Synergy Flavors, Hamilton, OH.
COLLEGE STATION – Texas A&M AgriLife scientists have found a way to use novel combinations of dietary compounds to selectively delete damaged stem cells and suppress cancer-causing cell signaling.
“This research is necessitated by the fact that the number of cancer cases diagnosed annually by 2050 is likely to double as a result of current population aging,” explained Dr. Robert Chapkin, Texas A&M AgriLife Senior Faculty Fellow and Regents Professor in the department of nutrition and food science, College Station. “If we as a society hope to head off the coming storm, we must get more serious about cancer prevention. Therefore, stem cell targeted therapeutic strategies aiming to eradicate malignancies are necessary.”
Dr. Robert Chapkin and other researchers in his lab investigate how diet and certain bioactives impact genes involved in cancer development. (Texas A&M AgriLife Communications photo by Kathleen Phillips)
Chapkin, also a Texas A&M AgriLife Research nutrition scientist, was recently recognized by the National Cancer Institute as an R35 Outstanding Investigator. His work and that of others in the Chapkin lab focuses on chronic disease prevention.
“We examine the effects of diet and gut microbe-derived bioactives on the inhibition or activation of genes involved in cancer development in humans,” he said.
Chapkin said work initiated by Eunjoo Kim, a graduate student in his lab, recently demonstrated long-chain omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil have synergistic effects when combined with curcumin, which is found in turmeric, in dramatically reducing colon cancer risk.
“We applied this combination of bioactives in order to target leucine-rich repeat-containing G-protein coupled receptor 5, or Lgr5, stem cells, the cells-of-origin of colon cancer,” he explained. “Specifically, adult colonic Lgr5 stem cells preferentially damaged by carcinogenic activity are removed efficiently via programmed cell death.”
Chapkin said the ability to remove genetically damaged cells is important because residual DNA damaged Lgr5 stem cells generate defective progenitor cells and promote uncontrolled cell proliferation, which can be a factor in tumor development.
“Findings from current studies suggest that unique metabolites produced by microbes in the large intestine following the ingestion of curcumin, when combined with omega-3 fatty acids, are effective as colorectal cancer preventive agents,” he said. “Combination treatment of omega-3 fatty acids with curcumin results in a synergistic efficacy above and beyond omega-3 fatty acids or curcumin alone in deleting damaged Lgr5 stem cells at the tumor initiation stage.”
He said the same synergy is found at the pre-tumor stage of tumorigenesis in colon cancer.
“We demonstrated that omega-3 fatty acids combined with curcumin decreased levels of nuclear beta-catenin, which is a colon cancer marker protein,” he said. “In general, curcumin has a low bioavailability, but omega-3 fatty acids appear to maximize their chemo-protective effect.”
Eunjoo Kim, a graduate student in Chapkin’s lab, showed long-chain omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil have synergistic effects when combined with curcumin. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo)
Researchers in his lab have made strides in explaining how the signaling nodes in Lgr5 stem cells are modulated by these dietary bioactives.
“We found that in the presence of carcinogen, omega-3 fatty acids combined with curcumin selectively act on Lgr5 stem cells by up-regulating the p53 signaling pathway in order to remove DNA damaged cells,” said Kim. “The p53 is a tumor-suppressor gene and functions mainly as a gatekeeper and caretaker for the cell. Gatekeepers regulate cellular functions involved in cell growth and cell death and caretaker genes control cellular process involved in stem cell repair of damaged genes and maintain genetic integrity.”
Chapkin also cited recent findings from Natividad Roberto Fuentes, a doctoral candidate in the lab, demonstrating that omega-3 fatty acids actually get incorporated into phospholipids that form the cell plasma membrane, while curcumin squeezes in between spaces within the membrane, leading to modulation of lipid and protein interactions.
“This suggests that their accumulation in the colon can disrupt the membrane structure and composition of epithelial stem cells, and helps suppress dysfunctional Wnt/beta-catenin signaling that can lead to colon cancer,” Chapkin said. “This is noteworthy, because Wnt/beta-catenin signaling controls intestinal stem cell fate and aberrantly activated Wnt signaling is found in colon cancer stem cells but not in normal cells.”
Chapkin said other Wnt repression strategies exist as therapeutic options for colon cancer, but diet-induced Wnt inhibition could represent a valuable alternative strategy for primary cancer prevention.
“Overall, these recent findings suggest that our therapeutic strategy for eliminating damaged stem cells and suppressing Wnt signaling using dietary and microbial bioactives could represent a novel target for the prevention of colon cancer and possibly other cancers,” Chapkin said.
Writer: Paul Schattenberg, 210-859-5752, paschattenberg@ag.tamu.edu
Contact: Dr. Robert Chapkin, 979-845-0448, r-chapkin@tamu.edu
Eunjoo Kim, 979-845-0448, kim10023@tamu.edu
Robert Fuentes, 979-845-0448, nfuentes2@tamu.edu
via http://nfs.tamu.edu/2015/09/28/study-shows-dried-plums-aid-in-colon-cancer-prevention/