INFORM January 2024

8 • inform January 2024, Vol. 35 (1)

Your AOCS Community

Health and Nutrition Division News INFORM: How did you become acquainted with AOCS? How have you participated in the community?

AOCS Divisions are forums for sharing tech nical information while offering networking and mentorship for early career profession als. The Health and Nutrition Division pro motes and facilitates communication and cooperation among professionals whose interests in lipid biochemistry and physi ology relate to all aspects of dietary fats and health. The division encompasses the technical areas of dietary fats and general health. MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: MEET EMERSON NOLASCO This issue of INFORM presents an interview

Nolasco: I became acquainted with AOCS thanks to my advisor Kaustav Majumder and my lab mates. As a lab, we started partici pating in AOCS around 2018-2019, and I later participated for the first time in the virtual conference in 2020. Afterward, I participated in the Health and Nutrition and the Protein and Co-Products Division as a poster pre senter. I also participated in both Division’s sessions to brainstorm what topics could be featured in future meetings. I realized there are more things in common than we think between Divisions, and we can work together to enhance the science quality and relevance in our research areas. AOCS is a great way to network with peers in academia and research-based industry, the latter is something I would like to pursue after graduation. So, I will take advantage of the mentoring, networking, and the introduction to career oppor tunities AOCS offers. INFORM: How does AOCS currently support your profes sional goals? Nolasco: In my three years of being a member and partici pant in the annual meetings, AOCS has been a great platform to showcase my research and skills as well as an excellent plat form for networking with peers in academia and the indus try. This is important for early career researchers as we can make connections that will be beneficial in our careers after graduation. INFORM: How does the Health and Nutrition Division align with your interests and research area? Have you made any connections that have helped you in your field? Nolasco: The Health and Nutrition Division is great for our research area as it aligns with how food-derived compounds such as carotenoids, omega-3 fatty acids, peptides, or diges tion-resistant proteins can impact the health of consumers. It

Emerson Nolasco

with Emerson Nolasco, a graduate student member of the Health and Nutrition division. Nolasco has been a member of AOCS for three years and has participated in the poster pitch competition, winning second place in two consecutive years (2022 and 2023) in this Division, along with the People’s Choice Award in 2023. Moreover, Emerson has participated in the Protein and Co-Products Division poster pitch competition, winning second place as well as the People’s Choice Award in 2023. INFORM: What are your areas of research as a graduate student, and what led you to your interest in health and nutrition? Nolasco: I’m currently working with functional foods, which is a food that gives you a health benefit beyond nutrition. Specifically, I work with egg white hydrolysate and how it can impact different mechanisms of hypertension, delay ing its progression as a preventive approach. For my under grad, I mainly focused on food chemistry and food safety, but coming to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln expanded my knowledge on how food can have a positive impact on our body. Food compounds play a role in how our cells and gut microbiome respond to stress and inflammation, which I find fascinating.