Projects | Centre For Precision and Molecular Nutrition

Ongoing Projects

The Protein Recommendation to Increase Muscle (PRIMe) study

Severe muscle loss is common in cancer patients and often leads to worse outcomes, such as more side effects from chemotherapy and lower survival rates. Although protein is crucial for building muscle, the best amount for cancer patients is still unknown. The PRIMe study is a preliminary trial at a single center where researchers are testing if a high-protein diet can improve outcomes for people receiving chemotherapy for colorectal cancer. This research will help design bigger studies to see if more protein can benefit cancer patients.

The impact of a powdered meal replacement on metabolism and gut microbiota (PREMIUM) Study

Excess body weight often leads to chronic inflammation and harmful changes in the gut microbiome. While powdered meal replacements (PMR) are effective for weight management, their impact on inflammation and the gut microbiome is not well understood. This 12-week study aims to explore how a PMR affect inflammation, the gut microbiome, gene expression, metabolomics, and overall metabolism in individuals who are overweight. The findings will help develop dietary strategies to improve the health of people with overweight and obesity.

Protein Needs in Cancer (PNCa) Study

Severe muscle loss in cancer patients can lead to more disabilities, longer hospital stays, more complications, worse treatment side effects, and shorter lives. Although protein is essential for maintaining muscle and overall health, current guidelines on how much cancer patients need are not well-supported by evidence. This project aims to pinpoint the protein requirements for patients with colorectal or breast cancer using a new, non-invasive method. The findings will help update nutritional guidelines to improve the health outcomes of cancer patients.

Feed Your Gut Bacteria More Fiber (FYBER) Study

The gut microbiome plays a crucial role in human health, but it varies significantly between individuals, affecting how nutrients like dietary fiber are processed. The FYBER study aims to see if the health benefits of various fiber supplements can be predicted based on individual gut microbiome characteristics in people with excess body weight. Using a three-arm, randomized controlled trial, researchers are using machine learning to assess if different fiber supplements consistently influence markers of chronic diseases. The findings will help tailor fiber supplement recommendations to enhance health outcomes in a personalized manner.

Upcoming Research Initiatives

Metabotyping for improved health outcomes

Studies will use multi-omics profiling and machine learning to identify clusters across different populations, aiming to create targeted nutritional strategies for health outcomes such as cardiovascular risk in cancer survivors, aging in older adults, and obesity in young people, by integrating data from various health and lifestyle factors.

Personalized fiber supplementation for gut health and metabolic outcomes

The CPMN infrastructure aims to advance personalized fiber interventions by enhancing clinical profiling, multi-omics analysis, and data integration for refined machine learning algorithms, further developing personalized fiber-enriched foods and pioneering research in diet-microbiome interactions.

NiMe™ diet and precision nutrition

The Centre will enhance clinical trials using body composition, multi-omics profiling, and AI to predict individual responses, supporting personalized meal plans and functional food development, building on previous studies where the NiMe™ diet improved gut microbiome and cardiometabolic health.

Food intake biomarker discovery for precision dietary assessment

Projects will explore metabolites linked to specific food groups to identify new biomarkers, enabling more accurate food intake assessments without relying on potentially flawed participant reporting.

Nutraceutical and functional food development for chronic disease management

Leveraging precision fermentation, bioactive encapsulation, and 3D food-printing technologies, projects will create customized nutraceuticals and functional foods targeting diseases like cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, and cancer, with randomized trials to test their metabolic effects using deep phenotyping and real-time monitoring through wearables.

Precision nutrition and anti-obesity therapies

Projects will integrate precision nutrition with anti-obesity medications such as Tirzepatide and Semaglutide to enhance weight loss and prevent muscle loss, utilizing multi-omics to identify biomarkers, precision-fermented proteins, and AI-driven dietary adjustments.

Testing a functional food for muscle health

The Centre, in collaboration with industry partners, will assess a leucine and β-glucan-enriched supplement's impact on muscle health in older adults through optimized formulations, MRI-based trials, biomarker analysis, and AI models to refine dosing and predict outcomes.

AI-driven predictive models for precision nutrition

Projects will utilize clinical datasets and multi-omics data to develop AI models that predict individual responses to dietary and multimodal interventions, forecasting outcomes like muscle protein synthesis, glycemic responses, and microbiome shifts to enable targeted strategies for various health conditions.

Wearable technology for real-time metabolic monitoring

In collaboration with industry partners, the Centre will enhance wearable health-monitoring devices by integrating multi-omics, data science, and AI-driven models to validate accuracy in metabolic tracking, improve dietary recommendations, and test their effectiveness in randomized trials, advancing precision nutrition into practical health monitoring.

Centre for Precision and Molecular Nutrition All In For One (AI-4-1)