Pre-clinical studies in nutrition often live in the shadows of clinical research. However, pre-clinical models, including animal and cell culture studies, allow for investigating questions that simply cannot be addressed in human trials and can generate important hypotheses to be tested in future clinical work. This session aims to: 1) emphasize the importance of pre-clinical research in nutrition, 2) highlight the role of translational research models that lead to important clinical research questions, and 3) better understand the need for in-depth metabolic insights to support nutritional research.
Dr. Adam Metherel is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto. He leads a translational research program applying recently developed models to determine synthesis rates of DHA and other omega-3 PUFA from dietary precursors, with a focus to identify mechanisms driving known sex differences in omega-3 PUFA status, particularly DHA. To do so, Dr. Metherel’s research program takes advantage of small, natural variations in the carbon content of the food supply that can be tracked throughout the body. Dr. Metherel’s research program is now applying these models to humans to better understand the role of sex and genotype on omega-3 PUFA metabolism and DHA synthesis, with the long-term goal of studying omega-3 PUFA metabolism in a wide range of healthy and at-risk populations.