Research Facilities
Faculty and students conduct research activities in the Department of Nutritional Sciences. Below are images of the type of facilities and topics researched.
Dr. Okhee Han's Lab
(From left to right) Eunyoung Kim, Sarah Kim, Veronica Weaver, and Dr. Okhee Han. Dr. Han and her students focus their research on iron metabolism, mechanisms of iron absorption, and regulation of gene expression using cell models.
Sarah Kim reviews DNA and protein bands detected using a phosphoimaging machine. This provides information about protein metabolism, gene expression, and interactions of proteins, such as comparing if specific gene expression and protein interactions are changed by different nutrient statuses.
Eunyoung Kim feeds cells with cell culture medium under a cell culture hood. Culturing specific types of cells is an important tool in studying cellular and molecular mechanisms of iron metabolism in different tissues.
Veronica Weaver places E-coli bacterias containing specific exogenous gene into an incubator. E-coli bacteria is used to expand some plasmid DNAs and their manipulated DNAs to study functions of specific genes in iron transport functions in cell models.
Dr. Catherine Ross' Lab
Tongkun Pai (left), Dr. Reza Zolfaghari and Sandhya Sankaranarayanan review the results of the thermocycler for PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction). This instrument provides an extremely sensitive means to amplify small quantities of DNA. In Dr. Ross' lab, this is used to see how genes are regulated by Vitamin A and other retinals.
Sandhya Sankaranarayanan handles genetic material under a hood, which helps maintain a sterile environment and prevent contamination.
Dr. John Beard's Lab
James Round reviews results from the atomic absorption spectrometer. This instrument can measure the amount of metal in tissues, e.g. the amount of iron in urine or the brain.
Laura Bianco uses the high pressurer liquid chromatography (HPLC), which can be used to measure neurotransmitters in tissue.
Dr. Rebecca Corwin's Lab
Pathways and modeling are used to study the impact of dietary fat and dietary restriction on the neurochemistry of the brain.
Lab space and equipment to do tissue samples and biochemical assays.
Metabolic Kitchen
Researcher in the department work in collaboration with the General Clinical Research Center (GCRC), which includes a fully equipped research kitchen.