Duke University · GeneticsDavid Nutrition Lab
Lawrence Anthony David · Durham, North Carolina
Research Focus
Dr. Lawrence Anthony David's lab at Duke University focuses on understanding how consumption of ultra-processed foods affects health. They are developing a groundbreaking genomic tool called FoodSeq, which analyzes plant DNA in stool samples to provide an objective measure of dietary intake. This research could change how we assess diet and its impacts on diseases like obesity and diabetes, thereby informing more effective public health policies.
ultra-processed foodsFoodSeqDNA biomarkersdietary assessmentpublic healthnutritional epidemiologycardiometabolic riskplant DNAgenomic analysisobesity
Research Aims
5AIM 01Develop a genomic biomarker for ultra-processed food intake using stool DNA analysis.
AIM 02Test the sensitivity and specificity of the biomarker in controlled dietary interventions.
AIM 03Evaluate the biomarker's predictive utility in large longitudinal health studies.
AIM 04Compare the performance of the FoodSeq biomarker with existing dietary assessment tools.
AIM 05Inform public health policies to reduce diet-related diseases.
Skills the Lab Values
DNA sequencingdietary assessment protocolsdata analysis with R/Pythoncontrolled feeding trialsstatistical modelingbiomarker analysisstool sample collectiongenome-wide association studies (GWAS)nutritional epidemiology researchlongitudinal cohort study methods