Completed Research Projects

The purpose of this research is to identify the microbial community constituents of mosquito midgut contents in order to identify new pathogens and functional gut microbes.

This research will investigate whether the same type of physical environment needed to promote improved dietary behaviors in families and children will also be effective in older adults. Information gathered will assist nutrition professionals in designing interventions for older adults emphasizing the need for fruits, vegetables and whole grains in the diet and based on factors relevant to them. Results will also be used to design community-wide food and environmental policies.

This project will develop new technologies that can stabilize omega-3 fatty acids so they can be incorporated into a wide variety of foods. Production of omega-3 fatty acids fortified foods could have significant consumer health benefits especially for heart and mental health.

Both adult-onset obesity and childhood obesity pose real health risks, with childhood obesity known to be associated with increased risk of chronic diseases. With current rising trends of overweight and obese children, there is great need to develop additional practical approaches to target the obesity epidemic. The objective of this proposed research is to develop a feasible and practical food-based approach to help reduce the incidence of childhood obesity and overweight children.

This research will examine the links between food practices in the Cambodian-American community and health risks among pregnant and post-partum Cambodian women in the United States. More than half of all Cambodian Americans live below the poverty line and a significant number are at high risk for food insecurity and hunger.

Seafood is increasingly consumed in the United States. The ability of a particular foodborne pathogen to grow on raw seafood will be determined as will the process leading to the production of a toxin responsible for foodborne illness.

Despite their many health benefits, the recommended amount of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains are not consumed by the majority of older adults in the U.S. The social-ecological model of healthy eating addresses multi-level factors that influence consumers' food choices, including the individual level, family and interpersonal level, community and organizational levels, and policy and systems levels. For older adults, community, organizational and policy enablers of healthy eating in older adults include accessibility, affordability, transportation, social support, and accommodating different living styles. Supermarkets, senior centers, and congregate meal sites are important settings where older adults practice food-related behaviors. This project will build upon lessons learned in the NE1439 regional research project and develop new understanding of important enablers and community supports for healthy eating in older adults. Through collaborative work with regional research members using qualitative and quantitative methods, we will identify the most important and modifiable enablers and behavioral settings to improve dietary behaviors in aging adults in communities across regions represented in this project. These results, along with relevant findings in the literature, will be used to develop and pilot test a tool that communities can use to assess their ability to support good nutrition among their older residents.

The overall goal of this project is to increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables in a community of families in a low income, multi-cultural and multiethnic
neighborhood of Worcester, Massachusetts, by integrating expertise in Agriculture, Food Access, and Nutrition Education programming and by increasing the availability of fruits and vegetables for people living in the target area.

This research is the preliminary stage of investigation to examine the effects of soy supplements on abdominal fat and risk for developing diabetes.

Food banks are major consumers of energy related to food handling and storage as well as major customers for local food producers. Energy efficiency and cost reduction in food banks could have synergistic benefits for both types of enterprise. This project will develop a process map to integrate energy and food handling audits tio help identify key nodes for effective energy efficiency and food safety interventions. By evaluating  technological innovation in the context of the local post-harvest food system the food banks can optimize energy efficiency and food safety.

This project will use multiple colon cancer cell lines to investigate the potential synergistic interactions between different dietary components in inhibiting cancer cell growth, and elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved.

Advances in nanotechnology have allowed more rapid and sensitive testing methods to be developed in the form of biosensors to help identify potential dangers in food products prior to distribution. This project aims to develop a microfluidic detection device designed for rapid and portable detection of pathogens and toxins in our food supply.

This research will address cultural tailoring of nutrition education programs intended to improve food security and nutrition of diverse cultures. It will further investigate cultural and ethnic differences in the language that is used to describe food security and the responses to household constraints that affect food purchasing. Finally, it will implement and evaluate a nutrition education program with a multicultural group of low-income Massachusetts residents.

This study is expected to reveal differences in one or more aspects of immune components and will aid in the understanding of how chronic exposure to certain organic pesticides may alter immune responses.

This research involves utilizing genomics and molecular biology tools to understand the basis of DMI (demethylation inhibitor) fungicide resistance dollar spot, the most important disease of turf grasses for golf courses.

Golf course superintendents often need to manage annual bluegrass on their courses and there are few methods for managing pests associated with annual bluegrass outside of multiple applications of chemical pesticides. This research seeks to refine understanding of the biology, ecology, and pathogenesis of these pests, develop better Integrated Pest Management tools to assess and monitor their impact, discover and deploy more effective pest management practices with reduced pesticide use.

Development and spread of the insecticide resistant in annual bluegrass weevil populations and demands for sustainable and environmentally sound turfgrass insect pest management options highlighted a crucial need in the development and improvement of the microbial options for tufgrass insect management. The main goal of our study is to investigate potential of the enthomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium brunneum as a possible strategy for annual bluegrass weevil control. Particularly, we will focus on addressing the following issues: 1) compare efficacy of older conidia and newer Microsclerotia formulations against ABW adults and larvae; 2) determine potential of the M. brunneum for mananging pyrethroid resistant populations 3) determine potential synergistic effect of combining fungus and imidacloprid.

Communities across the New England region and the country are facing challenges from climate change including more extreme storms, hotter and longer-lasing heat waves, more rain in winter and less in summer, as well as the slower but significant effects of sea level rise. Given the incremental development and long lives of the built environment, changes in municipal regulations take years to significantly change the buildings and infrastructure that make up our cities and towns. As a result, it is essential that communities begin now to adapt their built form regulations (zoning, building codes, road specifications, sewer infrastructure, etc.) so that as climate impacts worsen in the next decades, harm is minimized. However, outside of the major global cities such as Boston and New York, it is not clear how many communities have taken steps toward climate change adaptation.

After years of decline, many American cities are experiencing growth and renewal. In the first decades of the new century a host of U.S. cities saw increases in urban employment and population along with decreased rates of poverty and crime (McDonald, 2008). For the last three years, data show American cities growing faster than their surrounding suburbs (Voith & Wachter, 2014).

Still, the urban resurgence is not happening everywhere (Ehrenhalt, 2012). This is especially true for the country’s traditional manufacturing centers, or “legacy” cities such as Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo (Mallach, 2012). A similar situation can be seen in Massachusetts where the state’s so-called “Gateway Cities,” the former manufacturing centers that once provided a “gateway to the middle class,” lag behind more prosperous areas such as Boston and its suburbs (Forman, 2009). For this study, the term “legacy city” is used to describe former manufacturing centers, in general. The term “Gateway City” is used to describe former manufacturing centers located in Massachusetts.

The goal of this project is to understand  the many complexities of physical and mental health faced by rural low-income families within the context of their communities.  As more and more families, regardless of income level, face financial insecurity, those who are already at the bottom of the economic ladder become even more vulnerable. It is the economic issues confronting rural, disadvantaged families due to poor physical and mental health that will be addressed through this project.

This project will examine use of a sensory-affective, comprehensive approach to promote early childhood consumption of locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables. It is piloting a "Mass Farm Fresh" classroom methodology intended to increase levels of intake that are closer to meeting the USDA recommendations.

The goal of this project is to clarify the essential link between the best design and management practices for green infrastructure in new suburban residential developments, the actual results those practices achieve, and the value that residents place on the protected areas.