A nationally recognized National Institutes of Health center at the USC School of Medicine has been awarded a $10 million, five-year renewal grant to continue its work. The NIH Center for Dietary Supplements and Inflammation was founded in 2012 with an initial NIH Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence, or COBRE, grant of $10 million. This multi-disciplinary center, which focuses on recruitment and mentoring of junior faculty members, is made up of faculty from five USC colleges who work together to tackle the problem of inflammation from a variety of perspectives.

 

We look forward to continuing our important work in using dietary supplements to better regulate the inflammation that is a contributing cause of so many diseases that affect millions of lives around the world every day.

— Prakash Nagarkatti

 

The group is currently engaged in four major research projects, all of which seek to understand how inflammation can be regulated with dietary supplements to better control inflammatory diseases such as allergies, autism, colitis and colon cancer, and liver diseases. Past studies have applied the expertise of the center’s faculty and graduate student researchers to investigate inflammation’s role in atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s, obesity, breast cancer and liver disease. These studies are led by junior faculty including Drs. Saurabh Chatterjee, Sofia Lizarraga, Traci Testerman, Gregorio Gomez.  The Core facilities are led by Drs. Narendra Singh and Udai Singh. 

In addition to their collaborative and translational research efforts, the faculty working at USC’s Center for Dietary Supplements and Inflammation also prioritize mentorship of the junior members among their ranks, train graduate students and promote entrepreneurship. This $10 million renewal grant will help the center continue in this multifaceted mission for five more years.

The Center is directed by Dr. Prakash Nagarkatti and Dr. Mitzi Nagarkatti. Dr. Prakash Nagarkatti celebrated this major milestone, saying, “Our outstanding, interdisciplinary team of faculty and graduate students is honored and invigorated by this renewal grant. We look forward to continuing our important work in using dietary supplements to better regulate the inflammation that is a contributing cause of so many diseases that affect millions of lives around the world every day.”

 

24 August 2018