Volume 2 | Issue 2
DISCOVER UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURAL, CONSUMER AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
WHAT WE DO + WHY IT MATTERS
At its core, research within the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences centers on improving lives. With expertise in agriculture and the environment, family and communities, and health and wellness, our reach is both broad and deep. Uniting us is a reliance on the latest innovations in data and technology, as well as a deep commitment to solving realworld problems affecting Central Illinois, the United States, and the globe. Here, we showcase a fraction of our world-class research in the area of health and wellness, innovating life-saving devices and tracking viral evolution in the context of COVID-19, providing individualized nutrition solutions, and addressing food security in the U.S. and beyond.
QUICK ACTION MAKES EMERGENCY VENTILATORS A REALITY Two days after the state’s first stay-at-home order in March, Illinois researchers convened to discuss a prototype for an inexpensive emergency ventilator to relieve the nation’s shortage due to COVID-19. The team reached out to ACES animal sciences researchers with experience building and testing lifesaving medical devices in animals, and within a week, the first 24-hour test of the ventilator in pigs was complete. The device worked. With a few more tweaks and enhancements, Illinois RapidVent was ready for production. The ventilator has since been licensed by electronics company Belkin, and is now awaiting FDA approval for manufacturing.
Illinois RapidVent, an emergency ventilator tested on pigs by ACES researchers, is awaiting FDA approval for manufacturing
MEASURING FOOD SECURITY IN AMERICA More than 40 million Americans have limited access to adequate food, and that number could grow much higher during the COVID-19 pandemic. Households with children are more likely to be food insecure, and 1 in 4 children could face hunger. ACES researcher Craig Gundersen works with Feeding America, an umbrella organization for a network of 200 food banks nationwide, on estimating food insecurity around the U.S. They have developed Map the Meal Gap (MMG), an interactive web tool that allows users to search food insecurity levels by county, state, or region. Using the tool, Gundersen projects a worst-case scenario in which 24.5% of children could live in food insecure households during the pandemic. These projections can help legislators and aid organizations alleviate the problem.
1 in 6 Americans
1 in 4 children 1 in 6 Americans, and 1 in 4 children, are at risk of food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic
DISCOVER: HEALTH & WELLNESS aces-research@illinois.edu
aces.illinois.edu/research/areas/health-wellness
COVID VIRUS EVOLUTION Viruses have one goal: spread. Since SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, arrived on the global scene, it has mutated rapidly in pursuit of its goal. Illinois scientists have been tracking these mutations to understand the behavior of the virus. A recent study, mining more than 15,000 SARS-CoV-2 genomes sampled from the early months of the pandemic, shows certain protein regions of the virus are becoming more stable, while others are still undergoing rapid mutation. Finding stable proteins, including several involved in infectivity, is both positive and negative. The bad news is the virus is honing mechanisms that work well toward its goal, but it also means there may be more stable targets for vaccine development.
PERSONALIZED NUTRITION INITIATIVE Precision or personalized nutrition offers a way to optimize human health and quality of life by tailoring recommendations based on an individual’s genetics, microbiome, and metabolome. The Personalized Nutrition Initiative at Illinois is a new partnership between the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology and College of ACES, and aims to build transdisciplinary, collaborative efforts across campus to answer fundamental questions regarding how nutrition modulates health and disease across the lifespan. Sharon Donovan, professor and Melissa M. Noel Endowed Chair in Diet and Health in ACES, will direct the new initiative.
Analysis of 15,000+ viral genomes reveals rapid mutation in some protein regions, stability in others
New research helps understand an individual’s personal health needs based on a person’s genetics and microbiome
Advances in personalized nutrition was identified as a key area for strategic investment in the U of I’s The Next 150 2018-2023 Strategic Plan, and is also a keystone of the new National Institutes of Health 10-year Strategic Plan for Nutrition.
FUNDING SOURCES Emergency Ventilators: No external funding Matt Wheeler, Animal Sciences Contact: mbwheele@illinois.edu Food Security: The Howard G. Buffett Foundation, Conagra Brands Foundation and Nielsen; Feeding America; Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research; USDA NIFA Craig Gundersen, Agricultural and Consumer Economics Contact: cggunder@illinois.edu COVID-19 Virus Evolution: ACES Office of Research and Office of International Programs Gustavo Caetano-Anolles, Crop Sciences Contact: gca@illinois.edu Personalized Nutrition Initiative: No external funding Sharon Donovan, Food Science and Human Nutrition Contact: sdonovan@illinois.edu