About

The Precision Nutrition Core provides expertise and services in two areas: 1) Nutrigenomics and 2) Microbiome Analysis. The Core offers laboratory services as well as customized, cutting-edge research tools, including 1) whole genome, exome, and targeted gene sequencing; 2) RNA-sequencing; 3) microbiota characterization, including 16S rRNA gene sequencing and shotgun metagenomics; 4) targeted genotyping using PCR-based assays; 5) array-based gene expression profiling; 6) and bisulfide sequencing for methylation patterns in humans and mouse models. The Core provides investigators with the expertise and resources necessary to investigate the role of host genetic and gut microbiome factors in biological responses to nutritional exposure. The mission of the Core is to provide a suite of precision nutrition services that enable investigators to integrate nutrigenomics and microbiome analysis into nutrition and obesity research to advance our understanding of how individual genetics and gut microbial communities influence individual variability related to nutritional exposures and adiposity.

The Precision Nutrition Core also facilitates nutrition/obesity research through the UNC Microbiome Core Facility, and facilitates collaborations with the Gnotobiotic Core, the High-Throughput Sequencing Facility, and the Mammalian Genotyping Core at UNC.

Services

The Precision Nutrition Core offers a variety of services. To learn more about a specific service and/or to submit a service request, visit us on iLab.

• Lab Analysis
• DNA/RNA extractions: isolate DNA/RNA from blood, saliva, tissue, or blood spots to analyze SNPs
• Concentrating DNA samples, PCR runs, gels
• Data Cleaning/Mining; Interpretation of Results; Tabulation and Graphical Representation of Results
• One-Carbon Metabolism SNP Chip Microarray: One-Carbon Metabolism SNP Chip Microarray: This is the MEGAEX microarray (illumina) containing over 2 million human SNPs including many related to one-carbon metabolism, (e.g.: PEMT rs12325817, CHDH rs12676 and CHDH rs9001).
• Variant Identification and Annotation
• Genome-Wide Linkage Analysis
• Multipoint Identity by Descent (MIBD) Determination
• Genome-Wide SNP or Whole Genome Sequence Association Analysis, Genome-Wide Transcriptional Data Analysis
• Haplotype Inference, Genotype and Phenotype Imputation
• Nutrigenetics and Nutrigenomics Data Analysis/Consulting
• Proofreading of Manuscript/Grant Proposals; Imputation; Estimation of Kinships and Pedigrees in Related Samples
• Grant Development Assistance
• Initial Grant Review CH Microbiome
• Calorimetry
• Microbiome Data Analysis/Consulting NRI Microbiome
• DNA Extraction and RNA Extraction Microbiome: isolate DNA/RNA from stool samples
• Microbiome Data Analysis/Consulting

Contact Us

Saroja Voruganti, PhD
Associate Professor, Nutrition
Nutrition Research Institute
500 Laureate Way, Suite 3150
Kannapolis, NC 28081
(704) 250-5009
[email protected]

• Co-Director, Precision Nutrition Core (Nutrigenomics)

Ian Carroll, PhD
Assistant Professor, Nutrition
111 Mason Farm Road , 7312C MBRB Building
CB# 7032
Chapel Hill, NC 27599
(919) 843-4893
[email protected]

• Co-Director, Precision Nutrition Core (Microbiome Analysis)

M. Andrea Azcarate-Peril, PhD
Associate Professor, Medicine
Director, UNC Microbiome Core Facility
312 Isaac Taylor Hall
CB# 7032
Chapel Hill, NC 27599
(919) 966-9838
[email protected]

• Director, UNC Microbiome Core Facility

Anthony Fodor, PhD
Professor, Bioinformatics and Genomics
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Bioinformatics Building 361
9201 University City Blvd
Charlotte, NC 28223
(704) 687-8214
[email protected]

• Co-Investigator, Precision Nutrition Core (Microbiome Analysis)