October 06, 2010
Dr. Steven Zeisel

Steven Zeisel, MD, PhD, director of the University of North Carolina’s Nutrition Research Institute in Kannapolis and Kenan Distinguished Professor of nutrition in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, has received the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ Falk Award.

 
Zeisel received the award Oct. 4 at an event in Research Triangle Park, N.C., where he presented the Hans L. Falk Memorial Lecture, “Nutrigenomics, Estrogen and Environmental Chemicals Influence the Dietary Requirement for Choline.”
 
Using new approaches in studies of humans, mice and cells, Zeisel’s Nutrition Research Institute research team is working to identify mechanisms that underlie individual nutritional variations and needs. Zeisel is credited with discovering the role of choline as an essential nutrient in healthy fetal brain development. His team showed that choline influences epigenetic modulation during fetal development, meaning that including choline in a pregnant mother’s diet can have a positive impact on a child’s gene expression. As an essential nutrient, choline also is needed for healthy muscle and liver function.
 
In the lecture, Zeisel elaborated on the impacts of choline upon environmental health factors, raising awareness of choline not only as an essential nutrient, but also as having a significant role in mitigating environmental chemicals on individual nutrition.
 
“Individual variation in choline metabolism has relevance to environmental scientists,” Zeisel said. “Choline, an important methyl donor, modulates the metabolism and elimination of environmental chemicals such as arsenic and, at the same time, environmental chemicals influence choline metabolism.”
 
Held each year in honor of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ first scientific director, Hans Falk, Ph.D., the memorial lecture series recognizes and features speakers who have made significant contributions to environmental health science research.
 
 
For more information, visit the UNC Nutrition Research Institute website.
 
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications, 919-966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu.
 

 

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