Genetic, Metabolic and Inflammatory Markers
This includes research projects that focus on specific biological markers and their relationships with states of health and disease. Using a range of established and cutting-edge methodologies and technologies, research conducted within this subtheme seeks to identify, validate, and discover genetic, metabolic, and inflammatory biomarkers associated with cancer, cardiovascular disease, severe acute malnutrition, sickle cell disease and other important disease conditions. Research within this subtheme also seeks to investigate and delineate mechanistic processes occurring at the molecular, cellular, tissue, and whole-body levels that underlie these diseases. Our enhanced understanding of such biological mechanisms is expected to be reflected in corresponding improvements in clinical care and the development of new, effective therapies.
Projects under this programme
- Relationship between Body Composition and Muscle Function in Elderly Urban Jamaicans: Estimating Risk of Sarcopenia and Sarcopenic Obesity.
- Planning for a Sustainable and Robust RCRE in the Caribbean. Principal Investigators: John Robert Beck, Camille C Ragin (Fox Chase Cancer Center) Althea Bailey, Marshall Tulloch-Reid, (UWI) Other Investigators: Marvin Reid (Faculty of Medical Sciences), Kwesi Marshall, Shelly Rodrigo (UWI Open Campus / CARPHA)
- Validation of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) with Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) in Black Caribbean men and evaluating their ability to predict MetS in Prostate Cancer Survivors on Androgen Deprivation Therapy. Investigators: Kwesi Marshall, Marshall Tulloch-Reid, Camille Ragin, Dwayne Tucker, Marvin Reid Maria Jackson, Donovan McGrowder, Robin Roberts, Belinda Morrison, William Aiken, Richard Mayhew, Gareth Reid, Leroy Harrison
- Validating DNA extraction techniques for investigating potential associations between functional genetic polymorphisms and breast cancer phenotypes. Investigators: Kwesi Marshall, Tracey Gibson, Suzanne Shirley, Carlos Escoffery, Wayne McLaughlin, Georgiana Gordon-Strachan
- Metabolic profiles of adult survivors of severe acute malnutrition. Investigators: Debbie S. Thompson, Celine Bourdon, Paraskevi Massara, Michael S. Boyne, Terrence E. Forrester, Gerard Bryan Gonzales, and Robert H. J. Bandsma
- Child Malnutrition & Adult NCD: Generating Evidence on Mechanistic Links to Inform Future Policy/Practice (CHANGE project). Investigators: Debbie Thompson, Marko Kerac (PI), Natasha Leiljveld, Mubarek Mengistie, Melkamu Berhane, Abena Amoah, Amelia Crampin, Gerard Bryan Gonzales, Albert Koulman, Jonathan Swann
- Skin Disease and its Relation to Outcome in Severely Malnourished and Moderately Malnourished Children in the CHAIN cohort: The “Skin CHAINges” Study. Investigators: Debbie Thompson, Wieger Voskuijl (PI), Colette van Hees, Debbie van den Brink, Kelvin Mponda
- Markers of low-grade inflammation in adult survivors of severe acute malnutrition. Investigators: Debbie Thompson, Michael Boyne, Kwesi Marshall, Robert Bandsma, Gerard Bryan Gonzales, Amber Farooqui
- Vascular Growth Factors and the Emergence of Arterial Function and High Blood Pressure in the 1986 Jamaica Birth Cohort. Investigators Nadia Bennett (UWI), Other Investigators: Trevor Ferguson (UWI), Novie Younger-Coleman (UWI), Marshall Tulloch-Reid (UWI), Rainford J. Wilks (UWI), J Kennedy Cruickshank (KCL)
