Research/Areas of Interest
Nutrition and cardiometabolic health, dietary intervention studies, gut microbiome, diet quality biomarkers, metabolite signatures, fatty acid profiling, cholesterol and bile acid metabolism
Education
- PhD, Nutritional Biochemistry, School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition, McGill University, Canada
- MSc, Food and Nutrition, Women's Christian College, India
Biography
Dr. Nirupa Matthan, PhD, is a Scientist I in the Diet & Chronic Disease Prevention for Healthy Aging directive at the HNRCA. Her research interests include lifestyle risk factors and cardiometabolic diseases with specific emphasis on the objective assessment of diet quality using nutrient biomarkers and identification of chronic disease biomarkers through metabolite signatures. Dr. Matthan also has expertise in the measurement of fatty acids, cholesterol absorption and synthesis markers, lipoprotein kinetics and targeted lipidomics.
Current projects explore the impact of dietary components such as fatty acids, dairy fat, avocado, and plant-based meat alternatives on cardiometabolic risk factors, metabolite profiles and the gut microbiome. Dr. Matthan is also involved in validating a novel ingestible device, called a "mini-pill," to sample intestinal content at different locations along the gastrointestinal tract following dietary modifications. Past projects include human metabolic studies on glycemic index, trans and omega-3 fatty acids, soy protein and isoflavones, novel vegetable oils differing in fatty acid profile, as well as studying diet-drug interactions on atherosclerosis development using a porcine model.
Dr. Matthan is an Associate Professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and served as a faculty senator/executive council member in the Tufts University wide Faculty Senate. She is an active member of the Tufts University/Tufts Medical Center Institutional Review Board and maintains professional affiliations with several organizations, including the American Heart Association (Council on Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health), American Society for Nutrition, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.