Dr. Curtis Tilves (Research Associate in the Department of Epidemiology/Lifecourse Epidemiology of Adiposity and Diabetes (LEAD) Center, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus) was recently awarded a pilot grant from the Colorado Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC) to study “Food genomics to objectively characterize healthy dietary patterns and their associations with cardiometabolic health during pregnancy”. He will apply food DNA sequencing technology to quantify fecal plant genomics, and store fecal metabolomics, from pregnant mothers in an ongoing NIH-funded pre-birth cohort (UG3OD035526). He will (1) characterize food genomics signatures of plant food diversity and DASH diet intake during pregnancy and (2) examine these signatures vs self-reported diet with changes in gestational blood pressure and weight. Findings will inform future grant submissions to extend fecal food genomic and metabolomic measures to the entire cohort and examine associations with maternal and child cardiovascular outcomes.
List of current and past Colorado NORC pilot awardees:
https://medschool.cuanschutz.edu/cunorc/pilot-program/past-pilots