Immunology and Cell Biology

Nutritional Immunology

Nutritional Immunology investigates the role of dietary components and their interactions with other environmental factors and genes in age-associated changes of the immune and inflammatory responses.. Methods are being developed to use the immune response as a biologically meaningful index in determining specific dietary requirements. The laboratory uses a translational approach to: 1) Study cellular and molecular mechanisms of age and nutrition-induced changes in immune and inflammatory responses. 2) Determine the efficacy of food components including total calories, lipids, micronutrients such as vitamin E, and zinc, as well as flavonoids such as those in green tea and wolfberry, and pre- and pro-biotics on improving the immune function and/or dampening the inflammatory responses using cell culture, animal models and clinical trials. 3) Determine the efficacy of food components such as micronutrients and phytochemicals in the prevention of infectious, autoimmune and chronic diseases in animal models, clinical trials and observational studies in U.S. and less developed countries. 4) Determine the life-long impact of obesity and reducing caloric intake on immune response and resistance to infection. 5) Investigate the impact of nutrition during fetal life on long-life resistance to immune and inflammatory diseases