Congratulations to all of the Nutrition and Food Science students who graduated today! We wish you the best.

Congratulations to our College Bowl team on winning first place at Regionals. Their next competition will be at nationals, in Chicago! 

Since 1985, the IFTSA College Bowl Competition has tested the knowledge of student teams from across the United States in the areas of food science and technology, history of foods and food processing, food law, and general IFT/food-related trivia.

The College Bowl is designed to facilitate interaction among students  from different universities, stimulate the students’ desire to accumulate and retain knowledge, and provide a forum for students to engage in friendly competition.  Teams for IFT Student Chapters in eight geographical areas of the Student Association compete in area competitions prior to the IFT Annual Meeting. The winning teams from the eight areas then compete in a final competition at the Annual Meeting.

TAMU Student Research Week 2015:  “We would like to recognize Dr. Susanne Talcott’s Ph.D. student from the Federal University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Vinicius Venancio, MS, on winning in two separate categories: 1^st  place within the research areas of Health, Nutrition, Kinesiology and Physiology and 1^st place in the Sigma Xi Theme Symposium Award for best investigation in disease prevention

Dr. Clinton Allred, associate department head and associate professor of nutrition and food science

Between conducting cancer research, performing administrative duties as an associate department head, and teaching three nutrition courses, Dr. Clinton Allred, an associate professor of nutrition and food science, fills his schedule improving lives both inside and outside the classroom.

Through the chaos, however, Dr. Allred keeps his students as his top priority ­­­– most recently being awarded The Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award for College-Level Teaching.

This award is special to Dr. Allred because the nominations came from students and, ultimately, students choose the award winners. “I think that since the nominations and evaluations all occurred independent of me is a very neat thing,” he said.

Aside from the teaching award from The Association of Former Students, Dr. Allred was also a recent recipient of the 2014 ­­ILSI Malaspina International Scholar Travel Award.

Dr. Allred was one of only two North American recipients of this first-time, national award, allowing him to travel to the 2015 International Life Sciences Institute Annual Meeting in Arizona. “What was neat about attending the conference,” he said, “was having the opportunity to meet Dr. Alex Malaspina, the award’s namesake and founder. Dr. Malaspina been active in our field for more than 30 years.”

Photo by ILSI. Alex Malaspina International Scholars Travel Awards Back row, left to right: C. Allred; S. Muslimutan; K. Varady; A. de Souza Sant’Ana; Z. Šatalić. Front row, left to right: B. Aeri; A. Malaspina; Yukiko Nakanishi. Not shown: M. Armeno B. Mintah

Although the awards are nice, Dr. Allred’s favorite thing about his job is teaching and working with students.

“Teaching introductory major courses allows for a good opportunity to meet students when they first get in the degree,” he said, “and to hopefully start building the foundation of their knowledge in nutrition.”

“The opportunity to help someone understand something is awesome,” Dr. Allred continued. “We are very fortunate in this country that most people have a good idea of what is healthy and what is not. However, students don’t always understand why that is. Teaching in the classes that I do allows me to help them understand the ‘why’ of things and it’s extremely rewarding.”

Not only is Dr. Allred an extraordinary teacher, he is also a highly respected researcher, with funding from the American Cancer Society. His research focuses on how hormones and dietary compounds that mimic hormones influence the development in cancer.

“Specifically, we are interested in estrogen, a primary hormone found higher in women, because it appears as though estrogen suppresses the formation of colon cancer,” Dr. Allred said.

“If you look at the age match in women and men, before women become menopausal their estrogen levels are still higher and so they have a reduced risk of developing colon cancer. We are very interested in what that mechanism is,” said Dr. Allred.

“We want to know what estrogen does to this tissue that protects it against the formation of colon cancer,” he said. “We are also interested in different compounds that can mimic that hormone in the diet.”

The discovery aspect of his research is the most thrilling part for Dr. Allred. “At the end of the day,” he said, “we want to make a difference and conduct research that actually makes a real impact.”

As the associate department head and an associate professor in nutrition and food science, Dr. Allred said that his job is very rewarding.

“I really enjoy being here and the opportunity to work with students is incredibly gratifying,” Dr. Allred concluded. “Particularly, the thing that goes beyond the teaching and research that I do is the mentorship that I’m able to provide to help a student get where they want to go is by far the best part of this job.”

 writer: Tara Hale

via http://college.agrilife.org/blog/2015/02/18/nutrition-associate-department-head-wants-to-improve-lives-inside-outside-the-classroom/

COLLEGE STATION — Dr. Elsa Murano, professor and president emerita of Texas A&M University, has been named director of the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture. She had been interim director since June 2012.

“It is a great honor to be named director of an organization whose mission is to help improve the lives of poor farmers and their families around the world,” Murano said. “I’m humbled and very grateful to be doing my part in furthering the legacy of such a great man and dedicated scientist as Dr. Norman Borlaug.”

The institute, an entity of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, designs and implements science-based development projects and training programs that fight hunger and poverty, specifically among small-holder agricultural communities of the developing world.

Murano has managed a project portfolio of $55 million during her time with the institute. Current projects span the developing regions of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

“We are excited to have Dr. Murano continue to lead our international programs at the Borlaug Institute. She brings a wealth of experience and leadership skills to this position that will help our college and agencies fulfill their missions,” said Dr. Bill Dugas, acting vice chancellor and dean of agriculture and life sciences. “The agency directors and I could not be happier to have Dr. Murano in this role.”

A professor in the department of nutrition and food science at Texas A&M, Murano also served as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s undersecretary for food safety from 2001-2004.  She was vice chancellor and dean of agriculture and life sciences from 2005-2007 and served as president of Texas A&M from 2008-2009.

Writer: Gabe Saldana, Gabe.Saldana@ag.tamu.edu

via http://today.agrilife.org/2014/10/16/murano-named-director-of-texas-am-agrilifes-borlaug-institute-for-international-agriculture/?

Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors are undergoing clinical trials as anticancer agents, but some exhibit resistance mechanisms linked to anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 functions, such as BH3-only protein silencing. HDAC inhibitors that reactivate BH3-only family members might offer an improved therapeutic approach. We show here that a novel seleno-α-keto acid triggers global histone acetylation in human colon cancer cells and activates apoptosis in a p21-independent manner. Profiling of multiple survival factors identified a critical role for the BH3-only member Bcl-2-modifying factor (Bmf). On the corresponding BMF gene promoter, loss of HDAC8 was associated with signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3)/specificity protein 3 (Sp3) transcription factor exchange and recruitment of p300. Treatment with a p300 inhibitor or transient overexpression of exogenous HDAC8 interfered with BMF induction, whereas RNAi-mediated silencing of STAT3 activated the target gene. This is the first report to identify a direct target gene of HDAC8 repression, namely, BMF. Interestingly, the repressive role of HDAC8 could be uncoupled from HDAC1 to trigger Bmf-mediated apoptosis. These findings have implications for the development of HDAC8-selective inhibitors as therapeutic agents, beyond the reported involvement of HDAC8 in childhood malignancy. Cell Death and Disease (2014) 5, e1476; doi:10.1038/cddis.2014.422; published online 16 October 2014

Read the full publication here