Author Archives: Minji Hong

COVID-19 Guidelines for In-Person Research Study Visits

UT Austin has approved in-person human subjects research to restart beginning September 23, 2020. The Widen Lab will continue to conduct some research activities remotely and virtually, but has also worked to adjust our protocols so that both our team members and research participants can be safe. We will be taking this process slowly, but look forward to seeing our participants in person again soon!

Here is an infographic with details on what to expect from in-person study visits.
Widen Lab_COVID-19 Research Infographic

 

Congratulations to Saralyn!

One of Widen Lab’s graduate researchers, Saralyn, has been awarded the Young Investigator Grant from the Egg Nutrition Council for her proposal on the impact of eggs as a complementary food in the first year of life on diet quality focusing on protein, choline, lutein and iron.

In her own words, Saralyn shares, “as a dietitian, I have seen families struggle with the lack of consensus guidelines on introduction of foods. Many families hold onto outdated ideas about taboo foods (such as eggs, fish, etc.) to introduce in the first year. As a parent, I know first hand the resistance given by family members when you choose to give your children a food other than rice cereal as their first food. I want work toward evidenced-based guidelines for infant feeding. There is likely more than one ‘correct’ way to choose first foods, but evidenced-based information is key. Some recent research has shown that early introduction of eggs (in the form of egg powder) has shown to have no increase on egg allergy. For this grant, we want to see if the same is true by having the families give actual eggs when appropriate. “

Again, congratulations Saralyn!

Welcoming New Widen Lab Members

As the Widen Lab team has been adjusting to a fully virtual format, we have been fortunate enough to add more members to our team during this challenging time.

Please welcome our newest staff member and Research Lab Associate, Juan Pablo, and our three new undergraduate student researchers, Minji, Lauren, and Helen! You can learn more about each of them by clicking on the “People” tab on our site.

We are working diligently behind the scenes and look forward to posting more updates on what our team is working on!