Professor Helen Roche PhD MSc BSc

Teaching Interests:

Nutrition & Genomics / Molecular Nutrition within the BSc (Human Nutrition) at UCD. 
Nutrigenomics within the PhD Molecular Medicine at TCD.

Recent Postgraduate Students:

At anyone time there are 5-7 PhD students working within the Nutrigenomics Research group, each of whom are spread accoss the current research projects. Currently PhD programmes are linked to on going research programmes as follows:

Karen Hartford: SFI PI Principal Investigator Programme entitled ‘The role of macrophage accumulation in adipose tissue in the development of obesity induced insulin resistance - insights into mechanisms and nutrient based therapies using a nutrigenomics approach'.

Audrey Tierney, Jolene Mc Monagle, Jane Ferguson & Annalouise O'Connor: LIPGENE ‘Diet, genomics and the metabolic syndrome: an integrated nutrition, agro-food, social and economic analysis'. LIPGENE is an EU Framework 6 Integrated Project designed to determine the effects of dietary fatty acid composition and human genetic variation on the development and risk of the metabolic syndrome. Project involves a prospective genetic study and a human dietary intervention trial to test the interaction between dietary fat exposure and genetic risk of the metabolic syndrome.

Melissa Morine: NutSysBiol 'Nutrigenomics & Functional Food Development: Towards a Nutritional Systems Biology Approach'. This project will test the robustness of transcriptomic and proteomic approaches in determining the heath effects of fatty acid modified functional foods. The Nutritional Systems Biology Programme is also being supported by IRSCET who are funding a PhD Programme in Nutritional Systems Biology within their EMBARK Postgraduate Research Scholarship Scheme.

Clare Reynolds & Jolene Mc Monagle: Functional Foods 'Healthy fatty acid-enriched fresh beef: Implications for shelf-life, flavour and the health of the consumer'. The project will determine if the health effects of CLA enriched beef are as potent as synthetic forms of the fatty acid on insulin sensitivity in male ob/ob mice, atherosclerosis in apo E knock out mice and chronic inflammation in a mouse model of IBD.

Elizabeth Oliver & Emma Allot: HRB PhD Mol Med The Nutrigenomics Research Group are part of the HRB funded PhD Trining Programme in Molecular Medicine based at Trinity College Dublin. This programme is supporting two PhD Research Programmes entitled ‘The role of the adipocyte in insulin resistance' and ‘The molecular interactions between Obesity in Cancer'.

Current Postgraduate Students: