The Center for Nutrition, Learning, and Memory, a partnership between Abbott and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, announced the Center’s 2014 research recipients. Nearly $6 million in research funding was awarded as part of the third annual research challenge to nine research projects involving nutrition, the brain and cognition. Recipients were selected by an Executive Committee consisting of Abbott and UIUC panelists as part of a research challenge aimed at elevating nutrition’s role in learning and memory through interdisciplinary research.

Funded research studies center on the connection between nutrition and cognition across the lifespan. Studies will be conducted in several project categories, including interventional, correlational, model and tool development and core facilities. Selected proposals for 2014 are:

• Impact of Infant Formula on Brain and Eye Development
• Investigating the Effects of Nutrition on the Maturation of Brain Networks Associated with Memory in Infants
• A Nutritional Intervention to Enhance Brain and Cognitive Development in Small-for-Gestational-Age Piglets
• Nutritional Enhancement of Cognitive and Physical Performance: A Randomized Controlled Trial
• Diet-Modified Brain Chemistry and Plasticity: Nutrition as a Case Study
• Enhanced Chemical Characterization Efforts for Selected CNLM Projects
• Neural Mechanisms of Nutrient-Induced Cognitive Enhancement
• Impact of Fiber on the Gut Microbiome and Cognition in Mice
• Impact of Nutrients on Neonatal Brain Development and Function

All primary investigators have their primary appointments at UIUC. Project teams from the first three rounds of research include a diverse group of more than 40 UIUC faculty researchers across six UIUC colleges, 19 Abbott Nutrition global research scientists, and collaborators from 11 national and international research sites. Research will be conducted across 16 departments on the UIUC campus, along with two research institutes: the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and the Institute for Genomic Biology.

The impact of findings from funded research is already widespread. More than 30 presentations, abstracts and peer-reviewed papers sharing findings from the first two rounds of research have been completed. Additionally, research findings have led to formulation enhancements to nutrition products already in-market in the healthcare and consumer products industries.