Former Research Project Leaders (RPL)
| Cohort 4 - June 2023 - May 2024 | Project title | |
 | Tomasz Bednarski Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences University of Nebraska-Lincoln More information about Tomasz Bednarski | "The role of LPCAT3 in pathogenesis of diabetic cardiomyopathy" |
 | Amy Desaulniers School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences More information about Amy Desaulniers | “Molecular communications between Sertoli cells and extracellular vesicles of milk” |
 | Dipti Dev Child, Youth & Family Studies More information about Dipti Dev | "Feasibility of an Assessment and Feedback Tool to Improve Dietary Intake in Childcare" |
 | Tatsuya Yamada Department of Biochemistry University of Nebraska-Lincoln More information about Tatsuya Yamada | “Mechanisms of Megamitochondria Formation inNASH” |
 | Sunil Sukumaran Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences University of Nebraska-Lincoln More information about Sunil Sukumaran | “Biased sweet taste signaling pathways in mice and humans” |
| Cohort 3 - June 2020 - May 2023 | Project title | |
 | Ivan J. Vechetti Jr. Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences University of Nebraska-Lincoln More information about Ivan Vechetti | “The role of muscle-derived extracellular vesicles in adipocyte metabolism” |
 | Qiuming Yao Computer Science and Engineering University of Nebraska-Lincoln More information about Qiuming Yao | “Multi-modal omics in resolving gut microbiota and host interactions for diet induced obesity” |
 | Jung Yul Lim Mechanical and Materials Engineering University of Nebraska-Lincoln More information about Jung Yul Lim | "Adipocyte mechanotransduction and insulin signaling" |
 | Fabiana Silva (Brito) Department of Health Promotion University of Nebraska Medical Center | “Cultural adaptation and feasibility testing of a technology-based pediatric weigh management intervention for rural Latino communities” |
| Sunil Sukumaran Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences University of Nebraska-Lincoln More information about Sunil Sukumaran | “Biased sweet taste signaling pathways in mice and humans” |
Cohort 2 - June 2017 - May 2020 | Project title | |
 | Evi Farazi College of Public Health University of Nebraska Medical Center Omaha More information about Evi Farazi | “Identification of metabolic biomarkers and signaling changes associated with obesity related hepatocellular carcinoma” |
 | Sathish Natarajan Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences University of Nebraska-Lincoln More information about Sathish Natarajan | “Palmitoleate protects against 3-hydroxy fatty acid-induced lipotoxicity to placenta and maternal liver during acute fatty liver of pregnancy” |
 | Xinghui Sun Department of Biochemistry University of Nebraska-Lincoln More information about Xinghui Sun | “Endothelial long non-coding RNA Meg3, adipose tissue dysfunction, and obesity” |
 | Dustin Yates Department of Animal Science University of Nebraska-Lincoln More information about Dustin Yates | “Impact of maternal oxygen supplementation on adaptive metabolic dysfunction in IUGR fetuses” |
 | Jiujiu Yu Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences University of Nebraska-Lincoln More information about Jiujiu Yu | “Effects of grapefruit extracellular vesicle-like nanoparticles on NLRP3 inflammasome activation” |
| Cohort 1 - August 2014 - May 2017 | Project title | |
 | Justin Mott Biochemistry & Molecular Biology University of Nebraska Medical Center Omaha More information about Justin Mott | “Palmitoleate Protects against Cholangiocyte Lipoapoptosis” |
 | Qiaozhu Su now Queen’s Univ. Belfast More information about Qiaozhu Su | “Redox signaling, endoplasmic reticulum stress, high-fat diet, and metabolic syndrome” |
 | Juan Cui Computer Science & Engineering University of Nebraska-Lincoln More information about Juan Cui | “Bioinformatics-guided Discovery of Dietary MicroRNA Signals in Obesity” |
 | Amanda Ramer-Tait Food Science & Technology University of Nebraska-Lincoln More information about Amanda Ramer-Tait | “Gut microbe signaling, epigenetics, and inflammatory processes” |
 | Soonkyu Chung now at School of Public Health & Health Sciences University of Massachusetts Amherst More information about Soonkyu Chung | “Regulation of White Adipocyte Browning by Dietary Fatty Acids” |
Former Pilot Project Leaders (PPL)
Edward Deehan (UNL, Food Science): “Development of fiber blends that target dysregulated immunometabolism in obesity” 2023-2024
Punita Dhawan (UNMC, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology): "Role of MASTL in Pancreatic Steatosis and associated diseases” 2023-2024
Rebecca Oberley-Deegan (UNMC, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology): “Understanding the mechanism of obesity-induced radiation damage” (P01/Multiple PI pilot grant) 2021-2023
Paras Kumar Mishra (UNMC): “Gut dysbiosis in diabetic cardiomyopathy” 2021
Rebekah Gundry (UNMC): “Glycan signatures as mechanistic markers of beta cell injury in diabetes” 2020-2021
Rohita Sinha (UNL, Food Science): “Computational method to select bioactive dietary-peptides inhibiting microbial pathways associated with obesity,” 2017-2019
Kaustav Majumder (UNL, Food Science) 2018-2019
Audrey Atkin (UNL, Biological Sciences) “Molecular characterization of human miRISC complexes following treatment with cow milk exosome” 2016-2018
Srivatsan Kidambi (UNL, Chem. Eng.) 2016-2017
Jiri Adamec (UNL, Biochemistry) 2015-2016
Samodha Fernando (UNL, Animal Science) 2015-2016
Former Seed Project recipients:
Micah Schott (UNMC): “Microautophagy of Lipid Droplets by Endosomal Trafficking Mechanisms” 2022/2023
Sasitharan Balasubramaniam (UNL): “Digital simulations and wet lab experimental platform for bacterial EV intercellular communications” 2022/2023
Tomasz Bednarski (UNL): “The impact of obesity on satellite cells action in the skeletal muscle” 2022/2023
Jaekwon Lee (UNL): “Protection against hepatic lipid toxicity by copper homeostasis” 2022/2023
Amy Desaulniers (UNL): “Impacts of dietary milk exosome consumption on the testicular transcriptome” 2022
John S. Davis (UNMC): “Identification of metabolic pathways in ovarian steroidogenic tissues” 2021
Donald Becker (IANR/ARD): "Impact of obesity on proline energy metabolism in the mitochondrion” 2021
Ed Harris (IANR): “Contribution of copper in non-alcohol steatohepatitis” 2021
Oleh Khalimonchuk (IANR): "Mechanisms of Heme Transport and Distribution in Erythropoiesis” 2021
Dipti A. Dev (UNL): "SensiTray: Improving Feasibility and Validity in Children’s Dietary Assessment” 2021
Christopher Gustafson (IANR): “Health promotion in complex food choice environments: the effect of decision prompts on attention to products, nutrient information, and choice” 2021
Jaekwon Lee (UNL): "Mitigation of obesity and Hepatic steatosis by copper limitation" 2020-2021
Jennifer Auchtung (UNL): “Determining the role of bovine milk exosomes, a class of bioactive food compounds, in modulating the gastrointestinal microbiome and functional resistance to infection with Clostridioides difficile” 2020-2021
Seung-Hyun Ro (Biochemistry, UNL) 2019
Ann Anderson Berry (UNMC) 2019
Paul Thomes (UNMC) 2017-2018
Jiujiu Yu (Dept. of Nutrition and Health Sciences, UNL) Seed grant project: “Identification of microRNA in grapefruit extracellular vesicles and its target gene that reduce NLRP3 inflammasome activation” 2016-2017
Dustin Yates (Department of Animal Science, UNL),Seed Grant: “Identification of microRNA in grapefruit extracellular vesicles and its target gene that reduce NLRP3 inflammasome activation” 2016-2017
Sathish Natarajan (Dept. of Nutrition and Health Sciences, UNL), Seed grant: “Mechanism of 3-hydroxy fatty acid-induced placental trophoblast and hepatocyte lipoapoptosis” 2016
Tara Nordgren (UNMC): “Role of dietary microRNAs on human macrophage function” 2016-2017
Jung Yul Lim (UNL, Mechan. Eng.): “Adipokine Mechanobiology for Insulin Signaling” 2016-2017
Jiujiu Yu (UNL, NHS): “Identification of microRNA in grapefruit extracellular vesicles and its target gene that reduce NLRP3 inflammasome activation” 2017
Audrey Atkin (UNL, Biological Sciences): “Molecular characterization of human miRISC complexes following treatment with cow milk exosome miRNAs” 2015-2016
Ed Harris/Cliff Stains (Biochemistry & Chemistry, UNL) 2015-2016
Revision Grant – Xinghui Sun (UNL) “Novel roles of Matrin-3 in hepatic steatosis and acute phase response” 2023
Revision Grant – Saraswathi Viswanathan (UNMC) “The role of TP-R on obesity-linked metabolic disorders” 2020