Nutrition in the Control of Inflammation

Bradley S. Ferguson is an Associate Professor of Nutrition at the University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada. His lab adopts integrative, translational research approaches that encompass bioinformatics, in vitro cell culture, and in vivo animal models to elucidate dietary food components that act as epigenetic modifiers, as well as the role of dietary epigenetic modifiers on pathological cardiac signaling, gene expression, and remodeling. He also seeks to understand how sarcomere protein acetylation links metabolic disease (obesity and diabetes) to pathological cardiac remodeling and skeletal muscle dysfunction. Dr. Ferguson has published his findings across a wide range of peer-reviewed journals, including Scientific Reports, Journal of Animal Science, American Journal of Physiology, Cell Reports, PNAS, and the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology. Steven Frese is an Assistant Professor of Nutrition at the University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada and holds an appointment as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Department of Food Science and Technology at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. His research applies principles of microbial ecology and evolutionary biology to develop rational interventions to improve human health via the gut microbiome. This includes applying advanced techniques including bioinformatics, DNA/RNA sequencing, and mass spectrometry to determine strain- and ecosystem-level interactions both in vitro and in human clinical trials. His work has primarily focused on the gut microbiome in early life, and the role of diet and the microbiome in shaping infant health and development. Dr. Frese’s work has been published in a variety of broad interest peer-reviewed journals including Cell, Science Translational Medicine, Cell Host & Microbe, and PLoS Genetics, as well as audience-specific journals including Pediatric Research, Glycobiology, and Bioinformatics.

Section I. Introduction 1. Introduction: Nutrition, the microbiome, and the epigenome in human health and disease Section II. Diet, lifestyle and the microbiome in development and inflammatory diseases 2. Multifactorial microbial networks shape aging and neurodegeneration 3. The microbiome in infant gut health and development 4. Fiber and the gut microbiome and its impact on inflammation 5. Diet-specific impacts on the gut microbiome and their relation to health and inflammation 6. Hypertension, obesity, and the microbiome in cardiovascular disease Section III. Nutrition and the epigenome in metabolic and cardiovascular diseases 7. Obesity, histone acetylation, and insulin resistance 8. Diet, histone modifications and cardiovascular diseases 9. Diet, DNA methylation, and cardiovascular disease 10. Obesity and noncoding RNAs in epigenetic inheritance of metabolic disease 11. Caloric restriction in the epigenetic regulation of aging and longevity Section IV. Diet, epigenetics, and the microbiome in inflammatory disease 12. Gut microbiome, epigenetics, and neuro-inflammatory disease 13. Obesity, gut bacteria, and the epigenetic control of metabolic disease 14. Dietary impact on the gut microbiome and epigenome and regulation of gut inflammation Section V. Conclusions: practical applications for diet in inflammation 15. Practical applications for diet and lifestyle to improve microbial and epigenetic health