Location: Children's Nutrition Research Center
2023 Annual Report
Accomplishments
1. Researchers discover trouble in the epigenetics toolbox. Epigenetics describes the molecular mechanisms that enable our different cell types to develop and stably maintain different structures and functions. For more than a decade, researchers worldwide have been performing population studies to detect associations between DNA methylation (the most stable epigenetic mark) and disease; and nearly all these studies have used the same commercial methylation arrays. Scientists at the Children's Nutrition Research Center (CNRC) in Houston, Texas, reported that these arrays are not appropriate for population epigenetics, because 95% of the genomic sites they target do not show appreciable interindividual variation among humans (without interindividual variation, detecting associations is impossible). Additionally, we validated an innovative approach for studying Correlated Regions of Systemic Interindividual epigenetic Variation (CoRSIVs, which CNRC scientists discovered in 2019) and demonstrated the superiority of targeting CoRSIVs by documenting over 70-fold more genetic influence on human DNA methylation than had been previously documented. These advances call into question the results of over 1,000 studies of population epigenetics conducted over the last decade. A new product being marketed makes this technology available to epigenetic epidemiologists worldwide, helping the field of science to move forward.
2. A robust and integrative database framework to find and use/integrate heterogeneous data. Investigating the complexities of nutrition benefits and rare diseases is akin to piecing together an intricate jigsaw puzzle and each fragment of this puzzle represents information gathered from a multitude of research studies. Despite numerous analytical standards, datasets, and tools, the scientific community often struggles to efficiently comprehend these vast data sources. To address these challenges, researchers at the Children's Nutrition Research Center in Houston, Texas, have developed an integrative database framework that meticulously organizes scientific information, including gene expression profiles. A significant problem we successfully tackled is the issue of "batch effects," which can introduce potential biases when integrating evidence from different scientists; our framework allows us to identify and account for these effects, enabling the discovery of recurring patterns in gene behaviors that individual studies might miss due to their limited scope. In essence, our newfound approach empowers scientists to gain a more comprehensive understanding of specific nutrients or diseases by examining a wide range of data. Our methodology offers a more efficient pathway for the scientific community to explore critical biological questions, ultimately benefiting farmers and consumers with precise dietary recommendations and nutritional planning.