Project Summary This application requests a second renewal for our Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Institutional Research Training Grant (T32) entitled “Training in Botanical Approaches to Combat Metabolic Syndrome.” This training program is a collaborative effort between the Pennington Biomedical Research Center of Louisiana State University and the Departments of Plant Biology and Food Science at Rutgers University. The objective of this program is to train the highest caliber of postdoctoral fellows to become productive scientists integrating biomedical research methods and botanical discovery research with the capability of establishing successful scientific careers in academia, academic medicine, governmental agencies, and in the private sector. Metabolic syndrome is prevalent, poses a significant threat to public health, and it is characterized by the presence of co-existing traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease (e.g. hypertension, dyslipidemia, glucose intolerance, obesity and insulin resistance). Preventative approaches for metabolic syndrome often primarily focus on lifestyle interventions. However, maintenance of lifestyle changes over time is poor. Thus, nutritional supplementation with botanicals that effectively address pathogenic mechanisms, combined with the acceptance and widespread use of supplements by the general public, present an attractive, novel and potentially effective approach to combat metabolic syndrome. Therefore, research training provided by this T32 will be directed toward evaluating the interactions between botanical characterization and the molecular, genetic, and physiologic approaches to achieve the ultimate goal of understanding how botanicals can contribute to health and normal tissue function. The program emphasizes hands on research training in an environment that encourages and facilitates transdisciplinary research and team science. The program will also benefit from the synergy and cutting-edge technologies of the NCCIH-sponsored Botanical Dietary Supplements Research Center (BDSRC) also focused on botanical supplements and metabolic syndrome. This integration between the T32 and the BDSRC provides trainees the opportunity to pursue studies with investigators whose interest span all organ systems impacted by obesity and metabolic syndrome. Since it began in 2009, this T32 program has graduated 15 postdocs who have remained in research-oriented careers and have acquired 30 grants (8 from NIH). Eleven graduates are now in academia and four are in industry. Seven postdocs are still in training. In total, this program’s 22 trainees have published 124 papers on their T32 projects including 66 first author papers. We are requesting 7 full-time postdoctoral trainee positions per year (5 at Pennington Biomedical and 2 at Rutgers) for the next five-year grant cycle (2020-2025). Trainees will be supported for two to three years. Each postdoctoral fellow will be encouraged to develop interdisciplinary research efforts to understand the effects of botanicals on components of metabolic syndrome.

Project Narrative Metabolic syndrome, arguably a pre-diabetic state, is reaching epidemic proportions worldwide and represents one of the most important public health problems today. Research training to study promising botanical agents that might impact metabolic syndrome in humans has the potential to improve health.