Equipment Grant for the Selection of Healthy Foods and Cancer Testing Based on High Throughput Analysis of SNP Markers at Tennessee State University
Abstract
Tennessee State University (TSU) is a comprehensive urban-based, land-grant, 1890s University located in Nashville, Tennessee with a total of over 10,000 students. As such it is one of the oldest historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) institutions engaged in health and food security training in the United States. TSU has programs on agricultural production, biological sciences, computer sciences and engineering, dietetics and nursing which serve various Department of Defense (DoD) goals for healthy citizens, veterans and peak performing DoD service members. The development of new foods with nutritional advantages requires the selection of animals for meat and crops for grain and vegetables which are healthful in fighting diseases and nutrition packed. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers are the most prevalent system of genetic evaluation currently found in the fields of medicine, food science and agri-genomics. These markers are used for sensor development in emerging vectors and new diseases, cancer typing in oncology, standard pathogen detection in humans and our domesticated crops and animals, and marker assisted selection of better varieties and breeds of food species. This project will equip TSU with the most up to date SNP evaluation equipment available for nutrition and health studies in a Minority Serving Institution. The equipment will be used to integrate human, animal and plant genetics across the colleges of life sciences, chemistry, biology and agriculture and focus on the development of personalized conditioning and nutritional regiments useful for the Department of Defense. The Biology research and pre-Medical programs focus on cancers prevalent in the African American community while Biotechnology and Food and Animal Science concentrations focus on high energy foods that meet the needs of a culturally diverse population. In addition to model species research, TSU conducts applied research on new super-foods such as amaranths, cowpeas and hominy maize, alternative biofuel sources that can be grown in the Southeast such as gama or switchgrass and health and multi-faith conscience meats such as lean poultry, hallal goat and kosher beef. SNP arrays better known as "chips" are available for genetic and epigenetic studies in humans (OncoArray. lmmunoA rray-24, Multi-Ethnic Global and Psych Array-24) cattle (BovineLD Genotyping and BovineSNP50 v3 BeadChips) and some biofuel, fiber and food species (cotton, cow peas, goats and maize). A model for consortium building in SNP development exists but has predominantly been managed by non HBCU institutions. Therefore, TSU works with biologists at Tuskegee and Alabama A&M to develop SNP markers jointly across HBCU institutions. In this way, the SNP line at TSU is a hub for consortium building among Biological Sciences. Life Sciences and Human Sciences departments at various HBCUs to develop the tools for genetic evaluation of the diseases and pathogens on the one hand and foods on the other hand. The focus is on food and diseases that are important to African American health and diet. The new Biotechnology building, laboratories and facilities of TSU provide perfect home for a SNP consortium for Biological research. Furthermore, the equipment grant is a catalyst for cross-institutional, inter-departmental and intra-university collaborations and ensures the stability and maintenance of the SNP line evaluation system with multiple users involved. Medium term outputs of the equipment grant will be in the form of publications, joint projects, integrated research and development of new products. Long term impacts will include protection of the environment, raw materials and abundant breadbaskets for America and a healthier, well protected human population for the United States.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Sep 20, 2018
- Source ID
- W911NF1710558
Entities
People
- Matthew W Blair
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Office of the Secretary of Defense
- Tennessee State University