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Nutrition, Biomarkers, & Health
WHO WE ARE
ABOUT US
ABOUT US
Group members in the Nutrition, Biomarkers, & Health lab
TEAM NEWS
We extend a warm welcome to our visiting researchers this summer.
Professor Lorraine Brennan
Professor & Principal Investigator
Professor Brennan investigates metabolism and altered metabolic pathways in health and disease. She previously served as Director of the European Nutrigenomics Organisation (NuGO). She is a recipient of an ERC consolidator grant (2015) and participates in a number of national and European projects.
Our Group Videos
Dr Aoife O'Gorman
Research Project Manager
Dr Xiaofei Yin
Mass Spectroscopist
Dr. Yin is working on a project to set up reliable and reproducible analytical methods for the measurements of metabolites in biological samples based on a mass spectrometry platform.
Dr. Teresa Grohmann
Post-doc
Dr. Grohmann investigates novel approaches to provide personalised dietary advice in the Pad-Q study in collaboration with Queens University Belfast. Furthermore, she is identifying metabolic differences between patients diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment and healthy individuals.
Dr. Janine Wirth
Post-doc
Dr. Wirth's current project examines the impact of different types and times of protein intake on muscle functional parameters, biomarkers of metabolic health, sleep quality and quality of life.
Dr. Elaine Hillesheim
Post-doc
Dr Hillesheim works on the JPI-funded project PlantIntake which aims to combine biomarker panels and dietary intake data to improve the assessment of healthful and unhealthful plant-based diets.
Geetha Sundaramoorthy
Research Coordinator
Geetha Priya's research involves conducting metabolomic analysis (NMR, GC-MS, LC-MS) for a number of research projects.
Claire Connolly
PhD student
Claire Connolly's PhD investigates metabolic signatures of Irish grass-fed dairy products, including milk, cheese and butter with Food for Health Ireland.
Rebecca Finlay
PhD student
Rebecca's PhD is on the US-Ireland project that aims to use metabolomics techniques to identify biomarkers of commonly consumed foods. This study involves collaboration between UCD, Queens University Belfast and Harvard School of Public Health.
Ya Gao
PhD student
Ya Gao is a visiting PhD student who is aiming to use metabolomics techniques to identify biomarkers of commonly consumed foods.
Shubbham Gupta
PhD student
Shubbham Gupta's PhD research is aiming to explore the individual variation in metabolite levels using repeated measurements.
Aoife Courtney
PhD student
Aoife Courtney’s PhD research is examining the impact of diversification of protein intake on biomarkers of nutrition status and health.
Wenxuan Liu
PhD student
Wenxuan Liu’s PhD research is aiming to develop a soft clustering approach for the analysis of high dimensional metabolomics data.
Lauryn McMahon
Research Assistant
Lauryn McMahon works on the HRB funded Co-creation of a Cookery Book project in collaboration with Airfield Estate. This project aims to create a cookery book to help people incorporate more vegetables into their diet.
Max Ammann
Research Assistant
Max Ammann works on the HRB funded US-Ireland project. He perfoms metabolomic analysis and data analysis using NMR to identify food based biomarkers for cardiometabolic health and diet quality
Recent Team Members
Dr. Roberta Hack Mendes (Optiage)
Dr. Silva D'Angelo (A-DIET)
Dr. Aoife McNamara (A-DIET)
Ms. Orla Prendiville completed her Masters in 2020
Ms. Maria Heffernan completed her Masters in 2020
Dr Roshaida Abdul Wahab completed her PhD in 2019
Dr S.C. Sri Harsha Pedapati (FOODBALL)
Dr Diana Gonzalez-Pena (A-DIET)
Dr Cassandra Collins (A-DIET)
Dr. Celia Rodriguez Perez (bio4Health)
Dr. Francisco Madrid-Gambin (ALSPAC)
Dr Olga Grant (A-DIET)
Dr Katy Horner (Food for Health Ireland)
Dr Laura Kirwan (Food4Me)
Dr Miriam Ryan (ENPADASI)
Dr. Taciane Alegra (A-DIET & Foodball)
Dr Kaifeng Li completed his PhD in 2016
Dr. Helena Gibbons completed her PhD in 2016
Dr. Aoife Curran completed her PhD in 2017
Dr. Claire Erraught completed her PhD in 2019
Jenny Davison contributed to updating the HMDB schizophrenia metabocard.
Victoria O'Sullivan (FHI & A-DIET)
Ilona Csizmadia (A-DIET)
All are using their skills elsewhere now - we wish them well!
Visiting Researchers
The group often hosts visiting scientists and students undertaking part of their research or training in UCD.
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