Flavonoid metabolism and cardiometabolic health

Project details:

Nutrition and reduction in risk of ill-health is currently centre stage globally, and the recent launch of the EAT-Lancet report showcased that food represents one of the greatest health and environmental challenges of the 21st century and highlighted the urgent need to focus on a high plant food diet. Growing research provides evidence for the cardiometabolic health benefits of specific constituents in plant-based diets called flavonoids. Our work with Harvard has shown the risk reduction in cardiovascular disease with increased flavonoid intake. However, there is wide inter-individual variability in flavonoid metabolism and the relative importance of this variability on health is largely unknown. This studentship will seek to address some of these research gaps using extensive metabolite and gut microbiome datasets from our recently completed trials. The project will focus on the analyses of flavonoid metabolites in blood/urine and the statistical analyses of complex datasets. There will also be opportunities to either design/runa clinical trial or work with our external collaborators in large prospective studies to further understand the importance of flavonoid metabolism. In doing so, the PhD will integrate skills in laboratory methods for assessment of flavonoid metabolism, analyses of complex datasets, and clinical trial design and conduct.

This project will be supervised by Professor Aedin Cassidy (Queen’s University School of Biological Sciences/Institute for Global Food Security) and Professor Jayne Woodside (Queen’s University School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences/Institute for Global Food Security).

All applications MUST be submitted through https://dap.qub.ac.uk/portal/user/u_login.php.

All applicants must meet the academic entry requirements: https://www.qub.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate-research/biological-sciences-phd.html#entry