Principal investigator

Professor Clare Corish has a background in human nutrition and dietetics and worked for over 15 years in dietetic practice in Ireland, the UK and Saudi Arabia. She has extensive teaching and research experience in clinical nutrition and dietetics as lecturer in human nutrition and dietetics and programme director on the joint Technological University Dublin/University of Dublin, Trinity College undergraduate programme in human nutrition and dietetics. Professor Corish was appointed as associate professor in clinical nutrition and dietetics at University College Dublin where she has established a professional graduate programme in clinical nutrition and dietetics, the first such programme in the Republic of Ireland. Professor Corish has a long-standing commitment to nutrition research activities, particularly in disease-related malnutrition/malnutrition in the older person, nutrition in early childhood and nutrition and lifestyle among shift workers. Research funding has come from the Irish Health Service Executive, the Food Safety Promotion Board, Safefood, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and the Health Research Board. Professor Corish has previously (2013-2016) represented dietetics education on the Irish regulatory body for dietitians (Dietitians Registration Board; CORU) and currently represents dietetics education on the Education Steering Group of the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute, the professional body for dietitians in Ireland. She is also a member of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland Public Health Nutrition sub-committee and has served on a number of expert committees over many years. She is a member of the Editorial board of the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Nutrition Today and Nutrition and Dietetics as well as being peer reviewer for many high impact nutrition journals. She is an active member of the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute and the Nutrition Society holding several leadership roles in the past including INDI president and chair of the Nutrition Society Irish Section

Principal investigator

Helen Roche's academic background is in Human Nutrition & Molecular Medicine. Her appointment as Full Professor of Nutrigenomics bridges disciplines based at the UCD Conway Institute and the UCD Institute of Food & Health within UCD. She is also a Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Principal Investigator and a Food for Health Ireland (FHI) Principal Investigator. In 2014 she won significant funding from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine; NUTRIMAL is a large project grant addressing 'Novel Nutritional Solutions to Combat Malnutrition in the Elderly' in collaboration with the HSE, Safefood and a number of industry partners. In collaboration with UCC APC, another FIRM award ImmunoMet will address the interactions between nutritional status, metabolic health and the gut microbiome. Earlier in her career as Wellcome Trust Fellow & Senior Lecturer in Molecular Nutrition at TCD, Dr Roche established the first Nutrigenomics research group in Ireland, at the Institute of Molecular Medicine at TCD. Prof Roche was recently appointed to the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of the European Healthy Life Healthy Diet (HDHL) Joint Programming Initiative (JPI). The objective of which is to achieve greater pan-European research integration relating to Food and Health. She as has since been elected chair elect of the HDHL JPI SAB in 2014. Nutrigenomics uses state-of-the-art 'omoics' technologies to investigate the interaction between Nutrition and the Human Genome and gain a greater understanding of the molecular effects of nutrition on health. Whilst it is known that nutrition plays an important role in health and disease, often the cellular and molecular effects of nutrients are not fully understood. In light of the Human Genome Project and the rapid advances in molecular biology, it is essential that these opportunities be applied to nutrition research to progress our understanding of the role of nutrition in health and disease. The potential scope of research within the context of Nutrigenomics is enormous and could include: ' Personalised Nutrition & Health - Genetic determinants of nutrient status, metabolic response and predisposition to diet-related diseases (obesity and insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes (T2D), cardiovascular disease (CVD), some chronic pro-inflammatory conditions and some cancers). ' Molecular Nutrition - Nutrient regulation of gene / protein expression, genetic determinant of responsiveness to nutritional therapy and/or diet-related disease progression, and the effects of dietary fatty acids on the expression of the genes involved in metabolic health (T2D, CVD, inflammation and colon cancer).' Targeted Nutrition / Functional Food Development - Identifying novel food derived bio-actives which have positive effects on molecular processes related to attenuating risk factors associated with T2D, CVD, sub-acute chronic inflammation and insulin resistance.

Co-lead on WP4

Katy joined the School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Sport Sciences at UCD as a lecturer in Sport and Exercise Science in 2017. Katy holds a BSc and MSc in Sport and Exercise Science, both from the University of Limerick, and a PhD in Exercise and Nutrition Sciences from Queensland University of Technology, Australia. She subsequently completed postdoctoral studies in childhood obesity and physical activity at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, USA and more recently in the Nutrition, Biomarkers and Health Research Group at UCD as part of Food for Health Ireland. Her research draws on this interdisciplinary background, particularly in terms of trying to make connections across exercise physiology, metabolism and nutrition science. She has published articles on appetite control, gut and exercise physiology. Her interest in applied sport and exercise science is focused on exercise physiology and nutrition to optimise health and performance. Katy is also a registered nutritionist (nutrition science, sport/exercise), and currently works with the Ad Astra elite athlete support team at UCD.

PhD student

Elena de Marco is a PhD researcher in Helen Roche’s nutrigenomics lab at the Conway Institute, UCD, supported by the IRC Employment-Based Scheme in collaboration with Kerry Foods. She graduated from the Dublin Institute of Technology in 2018 with a Bsc Hons in Nutraceutical for Health and Nutrition. She is also part of the Diabetes Complications Research Centre, UCD. Her research is on the role of protein supplementation, long-chain fatty acids, and pre-and pro-biotics on skeletal muscle mass and strength in the elderly population. Her main focus is as lead researcher in a pilot nutritional-intervention human study that aims to assess the rates of muscle protein synthesis and changes in aminoacidemia in the elderly population in response to a plant-based diet.

PhD student

Brian Mullen received his Master’s degree in Clinical Research from Trinity College, Dublin in 2020. Prior to this Brian has gained a Master’s degree in Sports and Exercise Nutrition at Ulster University Jordanstown, a Bachelor’s degree in Human Nutrition at Ulster University Coleraine, and a Bachelor’s degree in Health Science and Physiology at the Institute of Technology, Sligo. Throughout his studies, Brian has gained valuable experience with human studies, intervention trials and clinical nutrition, and has participated in research projects on cognitive decline, dietary behaviour in the elderly, and childhood obesity.

In August 2021, Brian started his PhD studies at the Conway Institute of University College, Dublin (UCD). As part of the APPETITE consortium team, Brian will work primarily as lead researcher on WP4 at the Irish study centre, and also be involved in some prior preparatory work from WP2 and WP3.

MSc student

Anna Quinn is a research masters student in the Institute of Sport and Health in University College Dublin (UCD). She graduated from UCD in 2022 with a BSc Hons in Human Nutrition and is a qualified personal trainer with both 1-to-1 and group training experience. Throughout her studies and as a research assistant at the University of Nottingham, Anna has valuable experience with human interventions and has participated in nutrition research projects including those on dietary supplementation strategies in Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, the effects of caffeine on aspects of neuromuscular function in healthy adults, dietary intake in patients following open heart surgery as well as research on skeletal muscle physiology of elderly UK Masters Athletes.

As part of the APPETITE consortium team, Anna will work primarily on WP4. Her project focuses on appetite, body composition and undernutrition in older adults and aims to investigate the impact of Innovative plant protein, fibre, and physical activity interventions to address poor appetite and prevent undernutrition in older adults.