Research Day Highlights Student, Faculty Work

The 12 presenters at this year’s Research Day offered attendees a first-hand glimpse into scientific work on key sustainability issues conducted with grants from the Center for a Livable Future. The wide-ranging presentations recently at the eighth annual event, “Research Insights Along the Path to Sustainability,” focused on issues from Food access to industrial animal production, giving grant recipients the opportunity to share conclusions in several key areas.

Robert S. Lawrence, MD, director, Center for a Livable Future, noted the impact of research conducted in recent years by faculty and students. “There’s been a particular cluster of research over the years in antibiotic resistance,” he said, noting that recent research on the use of antibiotics in the poultry and swine industry served as a background paper for the forthcoming recommendations by the Pew Commission on Industrial Animal Production. “This is just one example of the work that is being conducted here to influence policy in the future.”

The afternoon program was divided into four sections: Health Impacts of Food Availability and Access; Health Impacts of Consumption and Exposures; Food Security Impacts of Agricultural Practices; and Public Health Implications of Industrial Food Animal Production.

Following a presentation by doctoral student Rebecca Kraft on the development of a biomarker for the consumption of high fructose corn syrup. Dennis Keeney, former director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, discussed the development of high fructose corn syrup and its effect on Iowa businesses and consumption. “This is really affecting human nutrition worldwide and the way people eat,” he said, noting that grain prices have risen due to the increased use of high fructose corn syrup and, more importantly, the use of corn in ethanol production. “This is a connection that very few people make,” he said.

Full audio and PowerPoint copies of each presentation are now available online.

Arantxa Colchero takes a question from the audience at Research Day.

Ellen Silbergeld, PhD, Professor, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, left, and Amy Sapkota, PhD, Assistant Professor, University of Maryland at College Park, answer questions about their research.

Manuel Franco, MD, PhD, discusses his research on the availability of healthy foods in Baltimore neighborhoods.

Dennis Keeney discusses ethanol and high fructose corn syrup production in the State of Iowa.

From left, Katherine Westphal, MPH student, Cynthia Chioma McOliver, MPH, doctoral student, Nicole Cardello Deziel, PhD, MHS, and Rebecca Kraft, doctoral student