biomedical sciences research institute - Research - University of Ulster

9. NORTHERN IRELAND CENTRE FOR FOODAND HEALTH (NICHE)Human nutrition research at the University of Ulster is centred in the Northern Ireland Centre for Food & Health(NICHE), a centre of excellence set up with EU structural funds in 1996 to provide greater understanding of dietrelatedhealth issues. NICHE has 20 academic, 5 technical and 9 research staff, as well as 29 postgraduate researchstudents.Research is aimed at identifying food components or dietary regimes likely to lead to benefits for human health.An important aspect of our work is the development and validation of biomarkers for chronic disease to facilitatedietary intervention studies in healthy subjects at risk of disease.Human Nutrition research within NICHE was recently reviewed and reorganized under the following six researchheadings:• energy balance, appetite regulation and nutrition education;• folate and related B vitamins in health and disease;• phytochemicals and gut microflora in health and disease;• micronutrient modulation of immune and inflammatory responses;• nutrition toxicology and child development; and• psychological factors associated with food and nutrition.Research remains focused on human dietary interventions around the core research facility of the human interventionstudies unit. Although much of our research effort is focussed on studies in healthy humans, in recent years we haveextended our efforts to include research in specific patient groups through establishing collaborations with cliniciansin the specialised areas of cardiology, gastroenterology and paediatrics. Some, though not all, of this work includesmore dietetics related research, which is expected to have greater emphasis within NICHE in the longer term.Images of some of the facilities available in the Human Intervention Studies Unit (HISU),within the Centre for Molecular Biosciences, University of Ulster70