Dietary Biomarkers in Nutrition and Cancer Research: Application of Metabolomics to Develop Objective Measures of Diet

Metabolomics, the measurement of hundreds to thousands of metabolites in a biologic sample, is a promising approach to characterizing dietary exposures and metabolic responses to them. At the same time, differences in human and gut microbial metabolism results in substantial variation in biomarker measures across individuals. This talk will address efforts to develop biomarkers of nutrient and food intake for application in studies of diet and cancer risk.

Dr. Johanna Lampe is a Professor in the Public Health Sciences Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and a Research Professor in Epidemiology at the University of Washington in Seattle. Dr. Lampe has conducted research on diet and cancer risk for over 30 years with a particular focus on how variation in human genetics and gut microbial metabolism affect response to diet constituents. Using metabolomics and other omics technologies, she has also worked to develop objective biomarkers of diet.  Dr. Lampe has received several awards for her work, including the American Society for Nutrition Mary Swartz Rose Senior Investigator Award for research on the safety and efficacy of bioactive compounds for human health and the National Cancer Institute’s Division of Cancer Prevention Stars in Nutrition and Cancer award, which recognizes research contributions in the field of nutrition and cancer. She has over 300 research publications and her research is currently funded by the US NIH and USDA/NIFA.