About Cornell University
Cornell University is a private Ivy League land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. The university was founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White. Since its founding, Cornell has been a co-educational, non-sectarian institution where admission has not been restricted by religion or race. The student body for the fall 2022 semester consisted of more than 15,000 undergraduate and 7,000 graduate students from all 50 American states and 130 countries.
The university is organized into seven undergraduate colleges and seven graduate divisions at its main Ithaca campus with each college and division defining its specific admission standards and academic programs in near autonomy. The university also administers three satellite campuses, including two in New York City and one in the Education City region of Qatar.
Cornell is one of the few private land grant universities in the United States. Of its seven undergraduate colleges, three are state-supported statutory or contract colleges through the State University of New York system, including its agricultural and human ecology colleges and its industrial labor relations school. Among Cornell's graduate schools, only the veterinary college is state-supported. The main campus of Cornell University in Ithaca spans 745 acres (301 ha).
As of October 2023, there have been 62 Nobel laureates, 4 Turing Award winners, and 1 Fields Medalist affiliated with Cornell. Cornell counts more than 250,000 living alumni and its former and present faculty and alumni include 34 Marshall Scholars, 33 Rhodes Scholars, 29 Truman Scholars, 7 Gates Scholars, 63 Olympic Medalists, 10 current Fortune 500 CEOs, and 35 billionaire alumni.
About Professor Patricia Cassano
Patricia Ann Cassano, M.P.H., Ph.D.; is a Professor and Division Director in the College of Human Ecology (CHE). The overarching goal of the Cassano Lab's research is to understand the role of nutrition and its interaction with genome in the etiology of chronic disease.
About the Research
Research in the Division of Nutritional Sciences falls into several overlapping core areas: molecular nutrition, human nutrition and metabolism, systems approaches to nutrition, and nutrition and disease in populations. The faculty, postdoctoral associates, technical staff, and graduate students have expertise in the physical, life and social sciences, and they are jointly committed to fundamental and multidisciplinary research and its translation to nutrition practice and policy.
Nutrition at Cornell is committed to knowledge generation, discovery and improving human health in the areas of: Precision Nutrition and Metabolism; Lifecycle Nutrition; Food and Nutrition Systems; and, Social and Behavioral Nutrition.
The overarching goal of the Cassano Research Group is to understand the role of nutrition and its interaction with the genome in the etiology of chronic disease. Their past studies provided evidence that nutrients with antioxidant properties play a role in the etiology of lung disease, and this line of research culminated in a randomized controlled trial of vitamin E and selenium supplementation to study effects on rate of decline in lung function and risk of COPD. The trial found a protective effect of selenium on a marker of lung function decline in cigarette smokers, and evidence that vitamin E was protective in a subset of participants. Given important contributions of genetic susceptibility to major chronic diseases, and the hypothesis that dietary exposures interact with genomic variation in the causation of chronic disease, we also study whether genomic variation contributes to differential responses to diet in relation to lung phenotypes. Understanding the role of genetic variation, and the interaction between genes and nutrients, is important to identify prevention targets and to provide the best advice for dietary guidance to avoid chronic disease.
They work in collaboration with the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology (CHARGE) Consortium and the SpiroMeta consortium to directly investigate gene-by-nutrient interactions in relation to pulmonary function and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, with studies on plasma omega 3 fatty acids, serum vitamin D, dietary patterns, and the dietary intake of fiber and omega 3 fatty acids.
Current projects include:
Genome-wide association study of lung function decline (NIH R01 HL149352, "Nutritional Omics of Lung Function Decline", multi-PIs D Hancock and PA Cassano)
Cornell Center for Health Equity pilot project on evidence-based nutrition content for the Patient Activated Learning System, with Weill Cornell Medicine (collaborative team includes PA Cassano, Monika Safford, Laura Barre and Joan Paddock)
Publications
Dr. Cassano and her research group lead the following studies:
- Pat serves as multi-PI with collaborator Dana Hancock (RTI, International) leading an NIH-funded study of gene-by-nutrient interactions in relation to pulmonary function phenotypes. This project leverages data from a consortium of genome-wide association studies to investigate the relation of genetic variation to pulmonary phenotypes. These studies are discovering new genetic variants that interact with nutrition, including vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids, to influence lung function decline and risk of COPD, and the project also explores the mediation of effects through the methylome.
Other research studies in progress:
- Mendelian Randomization studies of nutrient—lung function decline phenotypes
- Mendelian Randomization study of vitamin D and COVID-19 phenotypes
- Gene-by-nutrient studies of pulmonary function decline phenotypes within the CHARGE Consortium, under the auspices of NIH R21 funded project (Multi PIs: PA Cassano and D Hancock (RTI)) include several projects during the funding period. Two projects are in final stages of completion including a study of dietary pattern in relation to cross-sectional pulmonary function phenotypes. (Collaborators are investigators in the Pulmonary Function Working Group of CHARGE, and investigators in the SpiroMeta Consortium)
- Systematic reviews of nutrient--disease associations including 2 Cochrane reviews in progress: vitamin D and prevention of asthma and atopic dermatitis in children; folate interventions for arsenic exposed populations.
How to Apply:
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