Mission

The Program on Genomics and Nutrition, founded by its Director, Dr. Simin Liu, is a research and teaching program that strives to bring the best public health sciences to bear on the emerging challenges of  1) assessing the impact of genes and their interactions with behavior, nutrition, and the environment on health and diseases;  2) critically and systematically evaluating the significance of genetic and dietary variations within populations and applying that knowledge to improve public's health.

The Program on Genomics and Nutrition collaborates broadly with colleagues in the Departments of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Human Genetics, and Medicine, as well as other departments at UCLA and elsewhere in its research. PGN also serves as the research arm of the Center for Metabolic Disease Prevention and conducts research activities in several main areas:

(1) sample processing, genotyping and molecular epidemiology ("wetlab"),
(2) nutritional epidemiology, dietary assessment core, and statistical and bioinformatic analysis ("drylab").
(3) small-scale functional and intervention studies

Courses associated with the Program and taught by PGN faculty members span several departments and fields, including Genetic, Molecular, and Nutritional Epidemiology and Community Health Sciences. PGN courses are also incorporated in the the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Inter-school Training Program in Metabolic Diseases (BWF-IT-MD).