Gibson Lab

Undergraduate students Sandeep Gill and Nishat Tasnim were awarded prizes for poster presentation and oral presentation respectively. Congratulations to both!

Nijiati has been selected  as a winner of the 2014 Graduate Scholar Scholarship, Fall Selection, with a scholarship award of $10,000.00 USD by Golden Key International Honour Society. Golden Key’s scholarships and awards program is one of the many ways that Golden Key recognizes the outstanding achievements in academics, leadership and services to the community of its members every year.

Candice Quin received the CIHR Canadian Graduate Scholarship  – Masters’s (CGS M) for her project titled “Fish Oil Supplementation to Maternal Diets Rich in Unsaturated Fats Increase Offspring Susceptibility to Infectious Colitis”.

Summary:
Clinical evidence is conflicting on the beneficial outcomes of fish oil supplementation during pregnancy and its effects on the offspring. It is unknown how fish oil supplementation impacts the offspring’s gut microbiome and immunity. Considering that diet influences microbiota and maternal microbiota is passed from mother to infant, we hypothesize that maternal fish oil supplementation will affect their offspring’s gut microbiota and immunity. To approach this, I will investigate gut microbiota and immune responses during infectious colitis from the offspring of mothers fed various fat diets supplemented with fish oil. This research could result in strategies to manage immune susceptibility by regulating maternal dietary intake during gestation and breastfeeding.

Amount:
$17,500 over 12 month

Sandeep Gill won the NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA) for 4 months of summer research on her project titled “Fish oil supplementation has a differential effect during murine colitis dependent on background fatty acids.”

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of fatty acids with or without fish oil supplementation on ulcerative colitis. Emerging evidence has identified dietary lipid intake to be an important factor contributing to the etiology of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). In the past 30 years, the western lipid diet has shifted from saturated fats (SFAs) to “heart-healthy” polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). The health effects of omega-6 PUFA are in question as new evidence reveals the detrimental impacts of excessive omega-6 PUFA dietary intakes. This study looks at the effects of different fatty acids (omega-6 PUFA, monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), and SFA). Furthermore, the effects of fish oil supplementation (omega-3 PUFA) on colitis are conflicting and need to be clarified. This study will help determine whether fish oil has a differential effect depending on the background diet that is being consumed. This will have significant implications when considering the contradicting evidence for dietary fish oil supplementation in IBD patients.

Congratulations to PhD student, Mehrbod Estaki!

Bod won the NSERC PhD award for his PGS-D NSERC application titled: “The role of physical activity in altering intestinal microbial ecology and its consequences on normal host functions”.  The application was accepted for 24 months ($42,000) starting May of 2015. 

Deanna has won the Undergraduate Research Award for summer research looking at the impact of replacing maternal intake of milk with almond beverage on infant gut health.