NutritionNotesDaily

2015 Scientific Sessions and Annual Meeting at Experimental Biology

Wrap-Up | April 2015

By Allanna Wallace, ASN Membership Marketing Senior Manager

Since 2006, Students Meet the Fellows at the American Society for Nutrition’s (ASN)

Annual Meeting has provided an opportunity for students to meet legendary leaders in the field of nutrition. In 2015, Students Meet the Fellows, organized by the ASN Student Interest Group (SIG) and the Fellows Committee and sup-

On the last day of ASN’s Scien-tific Sessions & Annual Meet-ing, a symposium organized

by the Nutritional Sciences Council and Dietary Bioactive Components RIS discussed the newest techniques in natural products analysis, including cutting-edge methods and available resources for nutrition research. The session was co-chaired by Barbara Sor-kin, PhD, and James Harnly, PhD.

According to co-chair and speaker Dr. Harnly, epidemiological studies (Potter et al.) have shown that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables results in a 30% reduced risk of chronic disease. However, the reduced risk does not correlate with the vitamin content of the fruits and vegetables. This has given rise to interest in the health-promoting properties of the other constituents in plants, namely the phytochemicals, also called bioactive

compounds or secondary metabolites. “It is not possible to correlate health outcomes with phytochemicals if they are not measured accurately,” said Harnly. Methods for measuring total flavonoids are non-specific, subject to numerous interferences, and are not physiologically relevant. “Accurate and specific methods are thus neces-sary for establishing relationships to health,” he said, which set the purpose of the session.

Charlotte Simmler, a postdoctoral researcher at University of Illinois at Chicago, presented the importance of analyzing the full metabolome of plant-derived natural products. “Plants represent three-fourths of what a healthy plate should include; when we combine fruit, vegetables, and grains on the plate, they all come from plants. That’s why I wanted to study these, as part of our human metabolome.” Sim-

New Methods Help Explain Chemistry of Foodsmler described two techniques- mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. “We are defining new dietary markers we can follow later,” said Simmler. “NMR is a tool to understand the chemistry of what we are eating.” These tech-niques help scientists understand the chemistry of our foods, specifically the composition of amino acids, carbohy-drates, and phytochemicals.

Speaker John Williamson of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (formerly NC-CAM) talked about the NCCIH prod-uct integrity policy. Product integrity refers to the entirety and complete-ness of information about a product that assures it will meet the requisite level of confidence that the research will yield definitive and reproducible results, he said. The Center has devel-oped a Product Integrity Policy for dif-

ferent types of products used in basic, mechanistic, and clinical research including complex botanical products, complex animal products, probiot-ics, refined products, and placebos. This policy ensures that the NCCIH investigators develop quality control protocols, with the understanding that there is no “one” method for natural products characterization. The NC-CIH works closely with FDA, other governmental agencies, scientific as-sociations, and investigators to ensure products used in NIH funded research are well characterized and result in the highest quality, reproducible scientific results.

Finally, Paula N. Brown, PhD, Brit-ish Columbia Institute of Technol-ogy, spoke on the importance of the methods matching the materials, the NIH analytical methods and reference materials program.

Students Meet the Fellows Continues to Shineported by PepsiCo, welcomed a record-breaking student turnout. During the event, student attend-ees engaged with ASN Fellows, an

elite group of individuals recog-nized by ASN for their significant discoveries and distinguished ca-reers in nutrition. Student Interest

Group Leader, Tracy Moreira-Lu-cas, opened the Monday morning event by welcoming attendees and

Continued on page 2

SIG Chair Katie Coakley, RD, thanks PepsiCo’s Douglas Bolster, PhD, for support-ing the event.

Members of the Class of 2015: Richard Atkinson, MD, Diane Birt, PhD, Benjamin Caballero, MD, MSc, Pamela Fraker, PhD, Barbara Hansen, PhD, Penny Kris-Etherton, PhD, RD, Bo Lönnerdal, PhD, Martha Stipanuk, PhD, and Ricardo Uauy, MD, PhD Not pictured: Mark Failla, PhD

2 Nutrition Notes Daily April 2015

MICROBIOME TENURE TRACK FACULTY POSITION

Nutrition Research Institute and Department of NutritionUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

POSITION: The UNC Nutrition Research Institute (NRI) and the Department of Nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are jointly seeking applications for a tenure track faculty member with expertise in how the microbiome contributes to metabolic variation. This position can begin July 1, 2015. The position is located at the UNC Chapel Hill Nutrition Research Institute located on the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis (near Charlotte, NC). This is a tenure track appointment at the assistant, associate, or full professor level depending upon experience, research and scholarly accomplishments.

TO APPLY: Applicants must complete an online application at https://unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/67829 and should attach curriculum vitae, cover letter summarizing qualifications, and references. In your cover letter, specify that you are applying for an Energy Metabolism and Nutrition Research Institute faculty position.

Additional information about the Nutrition Research Institute can be found at www.uncnri.org. Additional information about the Department of Nutrition can be found at http://www.sph.unc.edu/nutr/.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is actively committed to diversity. We strongly encourage applications from women, minorities and individuals with disabilities. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

RESPONSIBILITIES: Specific responsibilities will include developing and/or maintaining a high quality research program with evidence of capacity to obtain external funding, some teaching responsibilities that will be negotiated with the Chair of the Department of Nutrition, advising graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and participating in the Institute’s and Department’s service programs.

QUALIFICATIONS: An earned doctorate in an appropriate discipline. Candidates should demonstrate the ability to establish and collaborate in multidisciplinary, funded research programs, ability to publish in quality journals, as well as a clear track record of scholarly accomplishment and teaching capacity.

500 Laureate WayKannapolis, NC 28081704-250-5000www.uncnri.org

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By Vicki Vieira-Potter, PhDPIC Member

ASN’s Public Information Com-mittee (PIC) sponsored a ses-sion titled, ‘Being “Social” How

Scientists can Find their Way in a 24-Hour Digital World, along with the Young Professional Interest Group. The Mon-day morning session was co-chaired by ASN PIC Chair Dr. Mary Ann Johnson and myself. The purpose of the session was to address the fact that nutrition scientists must realize we are living in a “24-hour digital world” where people demand immediate access to science news. The symposium featured five speakers with varied perspectives. After short, yet engaging, presentations by each speaker, there was a lively panel discussion and Q&A.

The session began with introductory remarks from the 2015 ASN Nutri-tion Science Media Award winner, Nancy Clark, MS, RD, a self-employed nutritionist and team nutritionist for the Boston Red Sox. Nancy shared

citing that most scientists believe that they’re safe while most consumers do not. He indicated, “Of the 100 most influential people in health and well-ness, only a small fraction are nutrition experts.” In answering the question, “When should scientists use social media?” his answers were “when you want to challenge or clarify a point of view” and “when you want to be-come a resource.” He left us with the poignant questions: “If not us [scientists] then who?” and “If not now, then when?”

Finally, Marion Nestle, Professor of Food Studies and Public Health at NYU, best-selling author, and nutri-tion policy advisor in the Department of Health and Human Services, spoke about her experiences with social media remarking, “I was dragged into this kicking and screaming!” What a unique and important perspective Dr. Nestle shared with the audience. Although she was likely the panelist with the most followers on social media, her remarks were more cautionary than the others warning especially the pre-tenure session attendees that “It takes an enormous amount of time,” has an “uncertain impact,” and it is “impor-tant to evaluate the [potential] ben-efits.” She concluded that pre-tenure faculty may choose to do it if they decide it has benefits but cautioned, “It should not take time away from writing papers and grants.”

A Place for Social Media Among Nutrition Scientiststhat social media is a key aspect of her professional life and that she uses it to build awareness of her business and make her work known. She noted that she does not have time to engage in all types of social media, a reoccurring theme of the session, and highlighted the importance of being strategic when using social media.

The next speaker was Lisa Gualt-ieri, Assistant Professor in the Depart-ment of Public Health and Commu-nity Medicine at Tufts University and Director of their Certificate Program in Digital Health Communication. She spoke about how to prepare and execute a social media strategy in five minutes a day. The first step, she said, is to approach social media as your professional voice, noting that, “a photo of an adorable kitten does not enhance your reputation as a scientist.” She talked about being selective as time is limited, and how social media can enhance your research if done properly, citing examples such as: helping gather

invitations to speak, helping network, and even discovering funding opportu-nities (she once got foundation funding through a tweet!). In her view, key tasks to ensure a valuable social media experi-ence are to: develop goals, identify a tar-get audience, identify competitors and copy what works (avoid what doesn’t), and evaluate results, iterating to im-prove efficiency and performance.

Michael McBurney, Vice Presi-dent for Science, Communications, and Advocacy at DSM Nutritional Products and creator of the “Talking Nutrition” blog, spoke about use of social media by industry scientists. Admitting that his dual role as scientist and blogger is an unusual one, he shared some insightful vignettes about how scientific informa-tion may be confusing to the public and shared his passion for effectively communicating science. He remarked that scientists have a responsibility to be honest and respond when science is misconstrued in mainstream media and that it is important to have a voice in social media outlets.

Greg Miller, Chief Science Of-ficer and Executive Vice President for Research, Regulatory and Scientific Affairs for the National Dairy Coun-cil, informed the audience that most people are getting scientific informa-tion from social media. He used the debate over GMOs as an example,

Videos from EB 2015 Feature Mentors, Award Winners, Editor

This year’s video bloggers - Mary Christoph, University of Il-linois and Mary Scourboutakos,

University of Toronto - were busy capturing various speakers and attend-ees throughout the meeting in Boston. From the serious to the fun, they spoke with a variety of nutrition’s leaders and young professionals. Don’t miss the fol-lowing interviews on ASN’s YouTube channel:

• National Dairy Council Intern Disha Gandhi

• David Freedman, The Atlantic• Ben Caballero, ASN Fellow• Atwater Lecturer Joanne Slavin• Speed Mentoring’s Sarah Nash• Journal Editor Katy Tucker• Advice for young scientists

Continued from page 1Fellows

congratulating the Class of 2015 ASN Fellows. “This is a treasured event that allows stars from the field to meet the new generation. I am so pleased to be able to at-tend.”

Since the ASN Fellows program was established in 1952, ASN has inducted 421 esteemed individuals into ASN Fellowship. Most recent-ly, ASN honored the 10 members of the Class of 2015 during the Fellows, 50-Year Members and Past Presidents Luncheon on Monday, March 30 during EB 2015.

3 Nutrition Notes Daily April 2015

About Nutrition Notes Daily: Nutrition Notes Daily is the conference version of ASN’s quarterly member newsletter, Nutrition Notes. This publication may be printed during ASN’s Annual Meeting, Advances & Controversies in Clinical Nutrition and/or various other activities which the Society organizes and hosts. ASN accepts advertisements, recruitment listings and classifieds for publication in Nutrition Notes Daily; all advertisements are subject to review. Please email meetings@nutrition.org to offer feedback on the Nutrition Notes Daily, or to share suggestions to improve other aspects of ASN 2015. Executive Officer: John Courtney; Editorial Staff: Paula Eichenbrenner, Suzanne Price; Publisher: CustomNEWS; Science Writer: Vicky Uhland; Design and Photography: John Carter

NUTRITION RESEARCHNational Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)

The NIDDK at the NIH is seeking an exceptional Science Administrator to serve in a dual senior leadership and program management role as the Director, Office of Nutrition Research, and Chief, Nutrition Research Branch. In the role of Director, Office of Nutrition Research, the incumbent will be responsible for leadership of nutrition research in NIDDK and collaboratively, across NIH institutes. The incumbent will participate in strategic planning, portfolio analysis, budget and resource allocation, and assessment of research needs and opportunities that fall within the mission of NIDDK and the NIH. Strategic planning will include developing new Trans NIH research initiatives in nutrition research. The incumbent will be expected to develop extensive partnerships both within other Federal agencies and with private industry. Nutrition research at NIH comprises a portfolio of approximately $1.4 billion of research support related to the nutritional sciences, for which the largest component is attributable to research funded by NIDDK. In the role of Chief, Nutrition Research Branch, the incumbent serves as a member of the senior leadership team of NIDDK. The incumbent will lead and coordinate nutrition research in NIDDK. In this role, the incumbent will directly manage and supervise complex programs in nutrition research, and participate in the development of new funding initiatives. Additionally, the incumbent will provide expert advice and guidance to other offices in NIDDK responsible for reporting scientific accomplishments and plans of the NIDDK to public policy makers, and which lead multiple educational and public awareness activities.

QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED: Candidates should possess a doctoral degree or equivalent training, and substantial leadership experience in managing basic, translational and clinical nutrition research programs.

SALARY/BENEFITS: The salary for this position is commensurate with qualifications and professional experience. A full Civil Service benefits package is available, which includes Retirement, Thrift Savings Plan participation (401K equivalent), Health, Life and Long-Term Care insurance.

HOW TO APPLY: NIDDK will be accepting applications from April 1, 2015 to April 30, 2015. Please submit cover letter and CV to Andrea Brush (brusha@mail.nih.gov).

DHHS and NIH are Equal Opportunity Employers

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This year’s bloggers were Sheela Sinharoy, MPH, Ann Liu, PhD, and Teresa Johnson,

RD. Their summaries and analyses of symposia and events from ASN’s Scientific Sessions include the follow-ing topics:

• Anemia and Inflammation: A Re-

Emerging Leaders Showcase Research

Congratulations to the inaugural winners of the Emerging Leaders in Nu-trition Science Poster Competition, which highlighted the best research submitted by students and young investigators to ASN’s Scientific Sessions.

Most of ASN’s 15 Research Interest Sections as well as the Global Nutrition Council and the Medical Nutrition Council selected finalists to participate in this competition. A full list of winners can be found at: http://scientificsessions.nutri-tion.org/special_events/emerging-leaders/.

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ASN Bloggers Address Diverse Contentsearch Dilemma

• Nutritional Approaches for Osteo-sarcopenic Obesity

• Colorful Carrots• Developing the Evidence Base for

Nutrition Recommendations• Gut Microbes and the Brain • Preconception Nutrition

Thank you to the following groups who help make ASN’s Scientific Sessions & Annual

Meeting a success!

ASN Board of DirectorsSimin Nikbin Meydani, DVM, PhD Gordon Jensen, MD, PhD Patrick Stover, PhD Marian Neuhouser, PhD, RD Barbara Lyle, PhD Catherine Field, PhD, RD Kevin Schalinske, PhD Lynette Neufeld, PhD Connie Bales, PhD, RD Cindy Davis, PhD Paul Coates, PhD Ed Saltzman, MD RIS ChairsZenia Jouni, PhDCarmen Sceppa, MD, PhD Sarah Colby, PhD

Zora Djuric, PhD Janet Novotny, PhD Anna Thalacker-Mercer, PhD Elizabeth Gilbert, PhD Cheryl Lovelady, PhD, RD Ron Morrison, PhD Jill Kaar, PhD Beth Bradley, PhD Namanjeet Ahluwalia, PhD Laura Coleman, PhD, RD Mark Cope, PhD Sushil Jain, PhD

Scientific Sessions at EB Subcommittee Ed Saltzman, MDLinda Van Horn, PhD, RDSusan K. Fried, PhDKate Claycombe, PhDMiriam Vos, MD, MPHMary Ann Johnson, PhDSean Adams, PhDKevin Schalinske, PhDLaura Caulfield, PhD

Meeting Success Relies on Many Groups

4 Nutrition Notes Daily April 2015

By Teresa Johnson, MSPH, RDASN Meeting Blog ger

“A calorie is a calorie, but the body’s physiological response to that calorie might be different depending on the circadian phase the body is exposed to,” said Frank Sheer, PhD, an assistant professor of medicine at Har-vard Medical School. Sheer spoke during ASN’s scientific sympo-sium titled “Is ‘When’ We Eat As Important As ‘What’ We Eat?—Chronobiological Aspects of Food Intake.” He opened his dis-cussion by asking why we should care about circadian biology, and then pointed to its possible influence on metabolic processes, meal timing, and disease risk. He explained that an internal “cir-cadian clock”—present in nearly all the body’s cells—regulates the body’s rhythms based on feed-back from the brain. We can un-couple those rhythms and choose

Timing is Everything as Speakers Look at Body Clocks to be awake, but at a cost, possibly increasing our risk of some chron-ic diseases, like type 2 diabetes.

Jonathan Johnston, PhD, an as-sociate professor at University of Surrey, “flipped the question on its head,” so to speak, and asked what effect meal timing might have on the body’s internal clock. Johnston explained that circadian rhythms are endogenous and self-sustain-ing, even without external cues like light and darkness. “Clocks are everywhere,” Johnston said, “and they function like an orchestra.” All the “musicians”—the various clocks—have to be synchronized to function properly, he said. John-ston’s data, gleaned from gene ex-pression studies in human adipose tissue, suggest that modifying meal times might help synchronize the body’s clocks, a possible treatment for the circadian dyssynchrony commonly observed with shift work, jet lag, blindness, and sleep

disorders.“Humans are the only spe-

cies that disobeys their biological clocks,” said Fred Turek, PhD, a professor at Northwestern Uni-versity, and the downstream ef-fects might be enormous. We have become “night creatures,” he said, and he and his colleagues are wondering how that affects hu-man health. Turek pointed out that at least 10 to 30 percent of gene expression in the human body is under circadian control includ-ing genes in tissues like the brain, liver, and muscle—key players in metabolism—and likely influences disease risk, gut permeability, and the gut microbiota. He suggested that science is at a tipping point with regard to circadian medicine and health, adding that the field of circadian biology is growing and spans many different disciplines, including immunology, oncology, cardiology, and nutrition. “I think

it’s the next frontier in medicine,” Turek said.

Jose Ordovás, PhD, a professor at Tufts, explained that circadian rhythms extend beyond 24-hour cycles to monthly and seasonal patterns, a phenomenon now ingrained in human physiology. Ordovás suggested that humans’ ancestral genes were more like the genes of the laboratory ani-mals he studies, which respond to regular cycles of light and dark. Migration away from hu-mans’ equatorial origins likely has altered human circadian biology and, in fact, circadian clocks now vary depending on geographical location. Ordovás speculated on the potential application of cir-cadian biology in personalized or precision medicine as a means to identify those at risk for nutri-tional disease, and added, “Know your genome and act accord-ingly.”

FRESHSCIENCE

CALASN SCIENTIFIC SESSIONS & ANNUAL MEETING

at EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY

SAN DIEGO CONVENTION CENTERASN HEADQUARTERS HOTEL: HILTON SAN DIEGO BAYFRONT

APRIL 2–6, 2016 • SAN DIEGO, CA

Presidential Symposia • Controversy Sessions • Posters Exhibits • Professional Development • Award LecturesNetworking • Social Events • Mentoring Events

Late-Breaking Symposia & Special Session Proposals will be due in fall 2015

Call for Abstracts will be open in late summer 2015. All abstracts must be submitted by Friday, November 6, 2015

Entries for ASN Oral Competitions are also due upon abstract submission. Plan now to enter:

• Clinical Emerging Leader Award Competition, supported by the Medical Nutrition Council

• Graduate Student Research Award Competition, supported by the Nutritional Sciences Council

• Postdoctoral Research Award Competition, organized by the Young Professional Interest Group and endowed by DuPont Nutrition and Health

• Young Minority Investigator Competition, organized by the Minority and Diversity Affairs