# Large scale nutrigenetics and genomics in a tractable metazoan model

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIV OF MASSACHUSETTS MED SCH WORCESTER · 2020 · $658,905

## Abstract

SUMMARY
Individuals can respond to diverse nutrients and dietary restrictions in markedly different ways. Some people
easily gain weight, but others remain thin no matter what they eat. Additionally, metabolic diseases can differ
dramatically among individuals in a population, for both rare single-gene Mendelian diseases and common
multifactorial metabolic diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. In large part, this variability suggests
that individual genetic differences greatly affect the likelihood to get sick as well as the severity of the illness for
both rare and common metabolic diseases across a population. It would be extremely valuable if one could
identify both rare and common variants that contribute to individual responses to diet and to the acquisition of
different types of metabolic diseases. Rare variants are usually identified by linkage mapping and whole-
genome sequencing using families with affected individuals. By contrast, common variants are usually
identified by genome-wide association studies using large populations of people with and without a disease.
We will develop personalized metabolic network models for a large set of genetic individuals of the nematode
C. elegans, both representing healthy metabolic state and mimicking an inborn error of human metabolism.
With our experimental system and approach we will be able to derive predictions of both rare and common
variation in a variety of metabolic traits influenced by nutrition. We will extensively validate such predictions
using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated genome editing.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10005043
- **Project number:** 5R01DK115690-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF MASSACHUSETTS MED SCH WORCESTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Erik Christian Andersen
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $658,905
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-20 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10005043

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10005043, Large scale nutrigenetics and genomics in a tractable metazoan model (5R01DK115690-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10005043. Licensed CC0.

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