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Using Human Nutrition to Fight Disease
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Professor Martha Belury (right) advised Michelle Asp (PhD ’10) (left), a former member of her research team, on her work in the cell culture laboratory of the Department of Human Nutrition..  |
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Who would have thought to compare a person with cancer to a person with diabetes while searching for a cancer-wasting treatment?
Martha Belury did. Over the years, the Carol S. Kennedy Professor in Human Nutrition at Ohio State has inspired many students to think outside the box. Two doctoral students—Michelle Asp and Min Tian—worked with Belury and made a groundbreaking discovery that promises to slow the devastating muscle wasting and weight loss caused by cancer, called cachexia.
"Michelle and Min used their scientific training to create in-depth, experimental studies to address my original hypothesis,” said Belury, who joined the Department of Human Nutrition in Ohio State’s College of Education and Human Ecology in 2002. "This is a normal approach to life sciences research. My ideas are the ignition for my students' dissertations. They use their training from classes and laboratory experiences to design the experiments that answer the research questions."
Since joining Ohio State, Belury has worked successfully with many graduate and undergraduate students, postdoctoral fellows, former students, and scientists-turned-research employees.
Supporting the science of wellness
In her research, Asp identified how those with diabetes and cachexia have something in common. In both cases, their cells have difficulty taking up glucose for fuel. This is called insulin resistance.
Since people with type 2 diabetes take insulin-sensitizing drugs to help their cells take up glucose, Asp next experimented to see if such a drug would help mice with cachexia. Sure enough, this common treatment decreased the severity of muscle wasting in the mice. An unexpected treatment option was born.
Asp, Tian, and Belury have earned numerous awards for their work. Asp has been supported in part by the Virginia M. Vivian Graduate Research Fund and the Myrtle Wolcott Cram Scholarship. Tian, who is still studying with Belury, has received the college’s Hazel Williams Lapp Fellowship and the Dorothy D. Scott Fellowship.
Belury emphasizes teamwork and notes that many members of her research team contributed to Asp's study. With as many as 10 participants in Belury’s lab at any given time, she fosters collaboration so each member gains solid knowledge and lab experience. They also work together to contribute to the many journal articles they publish.
Belury's students, after graduating, go on to contribute to improving people’s health and well-being. Aparna Purushotham, who completed her Interdisciplinary doctorate in Human Nutrition in 2007, is now a postdoctoral researcher with the National Institutes of Environmental Health. She studies solutions to metabolic syndrome, which frequently leads to diabetes.
Others, like Rachel Cole, who earned both bachelor's and master's degrees with Belury and graduated with honors, enjoy working with a professor so much that they rejoin her lab. Cole is now a research associate. And Asp, who earned a doctoral degree in spring 2010, is conducting postdoctoral research at the University of Minnesota College of Medicine. |
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