Epidemiology Ph.D. students present at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2022 in Chicago

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Mingjing Chen

Mingjing Chen and Xiaoxiao Wen, two doctoral students from the Center for Genetic Epidemiology and Bioinformatics, were invited to present at American Heart Association Scientific Sessions on November 4th -7th, 2022, in Chicago.

Chen was awarded the Epi Chair Travel Award and Graduate Student Council Travel Grant to present, “Longitudinal profiling of fasting plasma metabolome in response to weight-loss interventions in patients with morbid obesity.” Her research aims to identify plasma metabolites associated with differential metabolic outcomes in response to different types of weight-loss interventions.

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Xiaoxiao Wen

“I had the opportunity to participate in many discussions and lectures and learned to ask as many questions as I could and to carry myself with confidence. I engaged with interactive sessions featuring cutting-edge topics across an array of specialties and meaningfully connect with peers, mentors, and friends from around the world,” said Chen.

Wen was awarded the Epi Chair Travel Award to present her abstract, “DNA methylation predicts differential metabolic outcomes of weight-loss interventions: an epigenome-wide association study.” Her research aims to investigate whether baseline blood DNA methylation can predict differential metabolic outcomes induced by different types of weight-loss interventions.

“I’m excited to learn that more and more genomics and epigenomics research findings have been translated into the risk prediction and new targeted therapy for cardiometabolic diseases,” Wen said.