Central Institute for Nutrition and Food Research
The Central Institute for Nutrition and Food Research (ZIEL) in the Weihenstephan Science Center (WZW) of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) is a central institute on the Freising-Weihenstephan campus that conducts interdisciplinary science at the interface between food science, nutrition research and medicine . The ZIEL (English: "Institute for Food & Health") is committed to gaining knowledge about people.
Location and architecture
The institute, planned and built by the Freising State Building Authority, was built between 2002 and 2005 and inaugurated in April 2005. It is in the immediate vicinity of the cafeteria, central library and lecture hall building.
Two identical, almost square laboratory buildings are symmetrically located on a central three-storey hall. The hall serves as a communication point and meeting point for scientists, students and external parties. It is fully glazed on the north and south sides.
Basic idea of the GOAL
Networked focal points should address the influence of food on intestinal health and human metabolic function. The excellent core competence of the members is used and integrated. The establishment of platform technologies (core facilities) is intended to generate synergisms across faculty and institute boundaries.
Basic research is to be carried out. The cross-university research association works primarily on the microbiome , intestinal health and metabolic functions. The research results should benefit the prevention of chronic diseases.
Structure and tasks
Dirk Haller , holder of the Chair for Nutrition and Immunology, has been director of ZIEL since July 1st, 2014 . This has a flexible and topic-oriented membership structure, due to which the bundled technical expertise in ZIEL can be optimally used to enable research into complex and interdisciplinary issues.
The existing organizational structure is supplemented by a scientific advisory board (ZIEL Advisory Board). The advisory board is to advise the ZIEL on its research orientation in terms of constructive support and develop recommendations for further strategic development.
The "Core Facilities" are intended to implement the research priorities in the ZIEL. Platform technologies for microbiome analysis in the form of “ Next Generation Sequencing ” and “Gnotobiology” (Core Facility Microbiome) were set up, intervention studies and human phenotyping (Core Facility Human Studies) and technologies for food processing (Core Facility Food Processing, in cooperation with WZW, Fraunhofer IVV and ZIEL) are made possible.
The ZIEL maintains a thematically targeted young talent program that promotes interdisciplinary cooperation between the groups. In addition, the “ZIEL Academy” is to have the task of communicating new findings in food and nutrition research in a practical manner, internally and externally, at national and international level by organizing events.
GOAL Advisory Board
The ZIEL Advisory Board should advise ZIEL with regard to its research orientation in terms of constructive support and develop recommendations for its strategic further development. It consists of external representatives from food and nutrition science and industry and three TUM members (deans of the faculties WZW, sports and health sciences and medicine).
Research priorities
Food and microbiome
The intestine as the interface between the organism and a unique microbial ecosystem is of worldwide interest in the context of microbiome research. It is currently assumed that the microbiome is of central importance for human health. The processing of food, the composition of ingredients and nutrition in general are important factors that significantly influence the composition and functionality of the microbiome. Quantitative and / or qualitative changes in the microbiome can affect the immune system and metabolism and are associated with numerous chronic diseases of our time. The ZIEL is dedicated to these complex interrelationships through the interdisciplinary exchange of expert knowledge and research at the highest technical level.
Food and Immune Metabolism
Metabolism-associated diseases such as obesity , type 2 diabetes (T2D) and coronary heart disease (CHD) are responsible for a greatly increased risk of mortality worldwide. Lifestyle and eating habits are essential environmental factors that contribute to metabolic-related diseases, especially in highly developed industrial nations. The pathogenesis of these diseases is multifactorial, but there is a strong interlinking of metabolism and immune system, which underlines the fact that inflammatory processes make a significant contribution to the etiology of these diseases.
The detailed phenotyping of test persons is a central prerequisite for characterizing the influence of food on metabolic processes. Here, the ZIEL has invested in a methodical further development within the framework of the human study unit. Together with immunological expertise at ZIEL and TUM, the prerequisites are created here to analyze new focal points at the interface between food and immune metabolism both systemically and cellularly. In combination with new animal models and the focus on the microbiome in the gut, a clear focus has arisen here.
Core Facilities
The "Core Facilities" serve to implement the research priorities in the ZIEL and establish platform technologies for microbiome analysis in the form of Next Generation Sequencing and Gnotobiology (Core Facility Microbiome), intervention studies and human phenotyping (Core Facility Human Studies) and technologies for food processing (Core Facility Food Processing / Cooperation WZW , Fraunhofer IVV and ZIEL). The ZIEL wants to offer unique platforms for researching the connections between nutrition and health in humans:
- Core Facility Microbiome
The facility is dedicated to researching complex relationships between the intestinal microbiota and its host organism. It consists of the units “Gnotobiology” and “Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)”, which enables a complete analysis of the intestinal bacterial community (microbiome). The Core Facility team combines expert knowledge in the fields of microbiology, microbial ecology, bacterial genetics, high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatics. The qualified staff of Gnotobiology ensures that the experimental studies in animal husbandry are carried out under sterile conditions. The combination of the two subunits should make it possible to offer a continuous research platform that ranges from the animal model to the molecular characterization of the bacterial communities.
- Core Facility Human Studies
The focus of this facility is on human studies in the field of nutritional medicine. The basis for this is the survey of the different body characteristics (phenotyping). With some simple provisions z. B. the body weight or the abdominal circumference is determined together with blood analyzes and physiological examinations (such as spiroergometry ) the performance and health of the study participants. Various questionnaires allow conclusions to be drawn about lifestyle and provide information about possible health risks.
- Core facility food processing
The food and bioprocess technology combines the approaches of the predominantly scientific and the purely engineering disciplines in the conversion of raw materials into specifically modified material systems. In addition to the research and teaching tasks of the Chair of Food and Bioprocess Technology, the technical center also functions as a central facility ( core facility ) of the ZIEL. The core task is to provide the technical infrastructure for the cooperative implementation of nutritional knowledge in test samples with which biochemical, animal and, if necessary, human studies are to be carried out. Examples are the enrichment or depletion of biofunctional substances, the production and preservation of bioactive components through microbial or enzymatic fermentation or the investigation of the influence of product structures on the behavior of food in the gastrointestinal tract, on biofunctionality and bioavailability . Furthermore, test foods can be produced which, through certain components, influence the development of the human microbiome in the digestive tract.
GOAL Promoting young talent
The ZIEL maintains a thematically focused doctoral program as well as two groups of young researchers. These generate synergisms across faculty and institute boundaries, and interdisciplinary cooperation between the groups is to be promoted.
Web links
- WZW TUM website on ZIEL , accessed on January 7, 2018.
- Website of the Weihenstephan Science Center , accessed on January 7, 2018.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Information board of the State Building Department inside the ZIEL hall
- ↑ WZW TUM website on the ZIEL Central Institute , accessed on January 7, 2018.
- ↑ WZW TUM website on the main research areas of ZIEL , accessed on January 7, 2018.
- ↑ WZW TUM website on the ZIEL Core Facilities , accessed on January 7, 2018.