The Personalized Nutrition Initiative (PNI) has moved its home to the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) thanks to a new two-year memorandum of understanding between the two groups designed to expand interdisciplinary research, strengthen industry partnerships and position the initiative to become a self-sustaining campus center.
Under the agreement, PNI will be housed within NCSA’s Healthcare Innovation Program Office (HIPO) through June 2028. The move reflects the growing convergence of nutrition science, artificial intelligence, genomics, data science and behavioral research, while aligning PNI with NCSA’s biological and health sciences research mission.
“HIPO was created to provide strategic alignment and coordination across health-related research efforts at Illinois,” said Maria Jaromin, interim director of HIPO. “Its mission is to develop powerful methods, tools and research ecosystems that accelerate translational research and innovation to improve health outcomes. This mission aligns exceptionally well with PNI’s goals.”
PNI was established in 2020 as part of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign strategic plan, The Next 150, with joint stewardship from the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES), the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB) and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation (OVCRI). Over the past six years, the initiative has expanded interdisciplinary grant activity, developed sustainable industry partnerships and established an international research presence.
NCSA has partnered with PNI since its inception, with NCSA members serving on PNI’s Steering Committee and the center co-funding four seed grant programs beginning in 2022. The grants have generated a 40-to-1 return on investment to date through externally funded research and contributed to the development of a $10 million USDA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative proposal involving researchers across the university system, including the University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria (UICOMP) and Illinois Extension.
Relocating PNI to NCSA builds on that already successful collaborative relationship between the organizations.
“Working with NCSA researchers has advanced my research in new and exciting areas,” said Sharon Donovan, director of PNI and professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition (FSHN) at Illinois. “Currently, I am collaborating with Volodymyr Kindratenko, director of the Center for Artificial Intelligence Innovation (CAII) at NCSA, on developing the Visual Nutrition app, which includes a chatbot feature that feels like having a nutritionist in your pocket. I also work with Charles Blatti, senior research scientist at NCSA, on analysis of genetic data from our STRONG kids 2 cohort.”
The agreement highlights growing scientific opportunities that require expertise spanning nutrition, genomics, microbiome science, artificial intelligence and advanced data analytics. The partnership also aims to strengthen external engagement. NCSA will help expand PNI’s External Partners Program by recruiting organizations with expertise in artificial intelligence and health technologies while leveraging existing collaborations with the Mayo Clinic & Illinois Alliance.
The MOU also outlines a roadmap for PNI to become an independent, self-supporting entity by the end of the two-year term. PNI will continue to collaborate closely with ACES and IGB throughout the transition, including maintaining ongoing research projects and supporting existing IGB grant activities until their completion.
ABOUT HIPO
Established in 2020, NCSA’s Healthcare Innovation Program Office (HIPO) enables healthcare partnerships that leverage NCSA’s dedicated technology and expertise in areas such as HPC, software development, visualization, data analytics, AI and information security. HIPO guides industry clients and academic researchers to solutions and expertise that meet their computing needs. The people of HIPO are proud partners and stewards of NCSA’s resources, poised to assist users on their journey with NCSA.