Helen Roche's academic background is in Human Nutriton & Molecular Meidcine, she was recently appointed Associate Professor of Nutrigenomics based at the Conway Institute, UCD, Ireland within the Food & Health Theme. She is also a SFI Principal Investigator. Prior to that as Wellcome Trust Fellow & Senior Lecturer in Molecular Nutrition at TCD, Dr Roche established the first Nutrigenomics research group in Ireland, at the Institute of Molecular Medicine at TCD.

Nutrigenomics uses state-of-the-art ‘omoics' technologies to investigate the interaction between Nutrition and the Human Genome and gain a greater understanding of the molecular effects of nutrition on health. Whilst it is known that nutrition plays an important role in health and disease, often the cellular and molecular effects of nutrients are not fully understood. In light of the Human Genome Project and the rapid advances in molecular biology, it is essential that these opportunities be applied to nutrition research to progress our understanding of the role of nutrition in health and disease. The potential scope of research within the context of Nutrigenomics is enormous and could include:

• Genetic determinants of nutrient status, metabolic response and predisposition to diet-related diseases (insulin resistance, type 2 disbetes mellitus (T2DM), cardiovascular diasese (CVD), some chronic pro-inflammatory conditions and cancers)