We invite you to join us for the Department of Food Science and Nutrition  Advisory Council’s annual meeting on Thursday, February 8.  This year the meeting will be held in the Theater, which is located on the lower level of the St. Paul Student Center.  Parking is available at no charge in the Gortner Avenue Ramp—simply present the reminder ticket to the parking attendant as you exit the parking ramp.  Contact Peggy Lehtola for a reminder ticket if you do not have one (Ph: 612-624-1764; email: plehtola@umn.edu). Registration will begin at 12:30 p.m. and the meeting will adjourn at 4:30 p.m.  Agenda.

The focus of this year’s meeting is on nutrigenomics—a new take on diet and fitting into your genes.  Is it possible to outsmart our genetic makeup by selecting foods that are specific to our individual genes?  It’s a curious question.  Our faculty members and an outside expert in ethics and issues of nutrigenomics will address their latest research and perspectives on this topic: 

Dr. Doug Mashek, assistant professor of food science and nutrition will give an introduction into the field of nutrigenomics, and describe some examples of nutrigenomics research and its potential impact on our health.

Dr. Sabrina Peterson, assistant professor of food science and nutrition will compare nutrigenomics products on the market with the current state of science, and present methods by which nutrigenomics research is performed.

Dr. David Castle, professor of philosophy at the University of Ottawa will present ethical, legal and social challenges presented by nutrigenomics, and recommendations for further study in policy and regulatory development. This presentation will be archived and can be viewed anytime on the Breeze Web.  If you've never used Macromedia Breeze, get a quick overview:
http://www.macromedia.com/go/breeze_live_intro_en

We look forward to everyone’s participation in this exchange of ideas, insights and expertise. During the refreshment break we invite you to dialog with fellow advisory council members, FScN faculty and campus guests.  There is no registration fee, but we need your RSVP on or before Monday, February 5.  Please contact Peggy Lehtola if you plan to attend (Ph: 612-624-1764; email: plehtola@umn.edu).

I look forward to seeing you at the meeting.

Sincerely,

David E. Smith
Professor and Interim Department Head