Students from Department of Nutritional Science and Food Management Win at the KFN Int’l Symposium
- Date2021.11.23
- 3852
From last October 27th (Wed) to 30th (Fri) at the 2021 Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition(KFN) 50th Anniversary 2021 KFN International Symposium and Annual Meeting held at BEXCO in Busan, there was an Oral Presentation Competition held for graduate students. At the contest, Yoo Hyun-joo (4th Semester, Integrated Ph.D Program) and Lee Eun-bi (8th Semester, Integrated Ph.D Program) respectively won the Excellence Award and Honorable Mention.
Yoo Hyun-joo (Excellence Award) Lee Eun-bi (Honorable Mention)
The conference was held under the theme of "Tailed to Fit: Food & Nutrition in New Era." In the presentation competition, more than 30 students went through a preliminary round of documents, and only 16 students could present at the finals at the conference hall. Yoo Hyun-joo, who won the Excellence Award at the Master’s Program Division, gave a presentation on, "Development for early diagnosis of liver disease using metabolite changes in liver-specific Phb1 deficient mice.” Meanwhile, Lee Eun-bi, who won the Honorable Mention at the Ph.D. Program Division, gave a presentation on “Role of Angiogenin-mediated tRNA Fragmentation in Transmission of Diet-induced Metabolic Stress”.
In the presentation, Yoo Hyun-joo drew attention by announcing the development of a non-invasive biomarker that can diagnose liver disease sensitivity earlier using metabolites that change according to the degree of expression of the anticancer gene Prohibitin1 (Phb1). Phb1 is a protein that exists in mitochondrial cell membranes and plays an important role in maintaining mitochondrial function, and is known as an anticancer gene in the liver. It was found that when Phb1 expression is decreased by about 40 to 50%, the sensitivity of liver disease increases. Therefore, it is possible to develop a biomarker capable of predicting the sensitivity of liver disease through metabolites that showed changes compared to the control group where Phb1 is normally expressed. Among the metabolites changed in the blood, pipecolic acid produced during the decomposition process of lysine, an amino acid, showed potential as a biomarker that can predict liver disease sensitivity early. Through this study, Ms. Yoo suggested the possibility of a ‘personalized nutrition management’ using biomarkers for predicting the sensitivity of liver disease.
On the other hand, Ms. Lee Eun-bi presented a study on the mechanism of metabolic stress being transmitted from the generation of parents to children induced by diet. She revealed the mechanism by which tRNA fragment by angiogenin is induced through mTOR pathway activity in male reproductive cells changed by metabolic stress, and the mechanism in generational transfer was found. This is the first study to show the role of Angiogenin.
Since becoming independent as a sole major in 1965, the Ewha Department of Nutritional Science and Food Management has produced the largest number of master's and doctorate majors in Korea. Moreover, with a systematic curriculum such as various experiments and field training, Ewha conducts international-level research as well as basic theories in the fields of molecular nutrition, clinical nutrition, and restaurant industries.