The effects of nutrition on health and disease cannot be fathomed without a profound understanding of how nutrients act at a molecular and genetic level. The mission of the Netherlands Nutrigenomics Centre (NNC) is to elucidate the influence of food components, such as fat, on the metabolic syndrome at a genetic level.
Metabolic syndrome is a combination of medical disorders including obesity, insulin resistance, high cholesterol levels and hypertension. Metabolic syndrome may lead to the development of Type II diabetes and coronary heart disease. It is known that metabolic syndrome is the result of an imbalance between dietary energy intake and expenditure, strongly modulated by genetic factors. Using modern techniques like genomics, proteomics and metabolomics, NNC measures gene and protein expression and examines the effect of dietary changes on specific metabolites. Eventually, NNC will identify biomarkers for health, metabolic stress and diet-related disease. This will pave the way for better insight into weight management and the development of new food components for the treatment of dietary diseases and the prevention of metabolic stress.
The NNC is built around the chair Nutrition, Metabolism and Genomics of Prof. Michael Müller of the Wageningen University. Research by NNC is embedded in the TI Food & Nutrition and focuses on the organ-specific identification of dietary signals and nutrient sensor systems in mouse model systems and human studies. NNC is involved in various projects around the intestines, liver and endothelium, as well as in a range of interactions with other nutrigenomics groups in Europe. NNC also has dedicated microarray services including customer-made bioinformatic services available with its in-house developed so-called Madmax database. For further collaboration or other business opportunities, including licensing opportunities, please contact us.
Additional information
Netherlands Nutrigenomics Centre factsheet
Website
www.netherlandsnutrigenomicscentre.nl