The UAB Center for Exercise Medicine (UCEM), the UAB Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC) and the UAB Center for Engagement in Disability Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (CEDHARS) jointly hosted the "Precision-the genes and beyond" Interdisciplinary Research Symposium on September 15 and 16, 2022 at the Hill Student Center Ballrooms, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama. Partnering with CEDHARS, the National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability (NCHPAD) sponsored lunch and photography for the event.
The Symposium had a turnout of 156 participants that comprised scientists, clinicians, students and trainees from various fields. It featured three keynote speakers from external universities, 14 UAB speakers, a trainee poster presentation competition, a flash talk competition and a networking reception. The networking event brought together professionals in exercise medicine, nutrition and obesity, and disability and rehabilitation sciences.
Sessions focused on nutrition, sleep and circadian rhythms, exercise-based therapies to improve disabilities and rehabilitation, therapy identification, adherence and behavior and multi-phase optimization strategy.
Keynote Speakers:
The Symposium’s keynote speakers were Lauren Ptomey, PhD, RD, LD, Associate Professor, Center for Physical Activity & Weight Management, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Kansas Medical Center; Daniel Beavers, PhD, Associate Professor of Statistical Sciences, Wake Forest University; and Rebecca Seguin-Fowler, PhD, RD, LD, CSCS, Associate Director, Healthy Living at the Institute for Advancing Health through Agriculture & Professor of Nutrition, Chief Scientific Officer, Healthy Texas, Texas A&M University.
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Dr. Ptomey
Talk Title - “Weight Management Intervention for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities” -
Dr. Beavers
Talk Title - "Weight Loss and Physical Function in Aging: Study Design and Statistical Considerations" -
Dr. Seguin-Fowler
Talk Title - “Multilevel, Multicomponent Interventions to Advance Health Equity through Community-Engaged Nutrition and Obesity Prevention Research”
UAB Speakers
14 Speakers from various schools within UAB delivered 20-minute talks at the symposium. Scroll through the pictures for their talk titles.
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Dorothy Pekmezi, PhD
Professor, Health Behavior, School of Public Health
“Wearables & mHealth Technologies to Support Rural Populations in Physical Activity” -
Holly Wyatt, MD, PhD
Professor, Nutrition Sciences, School of Health Professions
“Strategies to increase dietary adherence in research and clinical programs” -
Brooks Wingo, PhD
Associate Professor, Occupational Therapy, School of Health Professions
“Using technology to monitor and increase dietary adherence among people with physical disabilities” -
Merry-Lynn McDonald, PhD
Assistant Professor, Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, Heersink School of Medicine
"Genomics of Musculoskeletal Diseases" -
Constanza Cortes, PhD
Assistant Professor, Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology, Heersink School of Medicine
“The Muscle-to-Brain Axis: Neuroprotection on the Treadmill” -
Anna Thalacker-Mercer, PhD
Assistant Professor, Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology, Heersink School of Medicine
“Determinants of skeletal muscle health in aging and disease” -
Daniel Smith Jr., PhD
Assistant Professor, Nutrition Sciences, School of Health Professions
“Assessing response variability in nutrition interventions” -
Karen Gamble, PhD
Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology, Heersink School of Medicine
“To Eat or Not to Eat: When is the Question” -
Courtney M. Peterson, PhD
Associate Professor, Nutrition Sciences, School of Health Professions
“Meal Timing, Circadian Rhythms, and Precision Nutrition” -
Girish Melkani, PhD
Associate Professor, Pathology, Heersink School of Medicine
“You are when you eat: Time-restricted feeding and circadian clock mediated regulation of cardiometabolic disorders” -
Martin Young, PhD
Professor, Cardiovascular Disease, Heersink School of Medicine
“The interplay between cardiac clock genes and nutrition: Insights gained from murine models” -
Tapan Mehta, PhD
Professor, Family & Community Medicine, Heersink School of Medicine
“Developing sustainable cardiometabolic intervention packages in primary care settings: Leveraging optimization trial designs, machine learning and artificial intelligence” -
Drew Sayer, PhD
Assistant Professor, Nutrition Sciences, School of Health Professions
“SMART” Lifestyle Interventions for Improving Health and Wellbeing in People with Obesity” -
Jereme Wilroy, PhD
Assistant Professor, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Heersink School of Medicine
“Protocol and design considerations for a sequential multiple assignment randomized trial (SMART) to increase adherence to home exercise in people with spinal cord injury”
Competitions
Abstract Submission:
All attendees were invited to submit abstracts on basic, clinical, translational, and population science that are broadly related to one or more of the following: exercise medicine, nutrition and obesity, disability and rehabilitation sciences.
Flash talk Competition:
The Symposium featured a flash talk competition, wherein, eight abstracts were selected prior to the symposium for an opportunity to present a 5-minute flash talk to the symposium audience. Abstracts submitted by the participants – with their research’s purpose, methods, results, conclusions, future directions, and acknowledgments – were reviewed by faculty judges prior to the symposium.
Poster Presentation Competition:
The symposium featured a poster presentation competition, highlighting the research of undergraduate, graduate, postdoctoral trainees, and junior faculty. From the 38 participants, faculty judges selected 6 winners, and presented $750 travel award each to the flash talk winners, and $400 travel award each to the poster winners. The winners were:
Flash Talk Winners:
Keri Kemp, PhD (Postdoctoral fellow, UAB Nephrology)
Associations between dietary habits and gut microbiota composition in diverse adolescents
Natalie Davis (Graduate trainee, UAB Roberson lab)
Alzheimer’s disease risk factor BIN1 in parvalbumin interneurons
Samia O’Bryan, PhD (Postdoctoral trainee, UAB CDIB)
Attenuated Thigh Lean Mass Gains in Older Adults in Response to High-Intensity
Poster Winners:
Angad Yadav, PhD (Postdoctoral fellow, UAB CDIB)
Metabolically-derived, post-translational protein modifications as determinants of muscle progenitor cell state and function
Huacong (Wendy) Wen, PhD (Postdoctoral fellow, UAB Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation)
Experiences with COVID-19 pandemic in the spinal cord injury community in Alabama
Kristen Coutinho (Graduate trainee, UAB Cortes Lab)
Skeletal Muscle Overexpression of Transcription Factor E-B (TFEB) Supports Proteomic Changes Involved in Mitochondrial Metabolism During Aging
Congratulations to all the winners and many thanks to all attendees!