People | laboratory

Ahmed Bettaieb, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Department of Nutrition

616 Mossman Building
1311 West Cumberland Avenue
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Knoxville, TN 37996-1920
Tel: 865-974-6267
email: abettaie@utk.edu

Current Lab. Members

Presley Dowker

Graduate Student
Department of Nutrition

541E Mossman Building
1311 West Cumberland Avenue
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Knoxville, TN 37996-1920
Tel: 865-974-6267
email: pdowker@vols.utk.edu

Presley Dowker is a current doctoral candidate in the Nutrition Department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK). Presley’s current research project focuses on nutrition and its relationship to obesity and its metabolic complications with a specific emphasis pertaining to the glycolytic enzyme: pyruvate kinase isoform M2 (PKM2). Presley’s prospective goals for the future include pursuing a professional career in research and academia.

Katelin Hubbard

Graduate Student
Department of Nutrition

541E Mossman Building
1311 West Cumberland Avenue
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Knoxville, TN 37996-1920
Tel: 865-974-6267
email: khubbar7@vols.utk.edu

Katelin Hubbard is a current PhD candidate in the Nutrition Department at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK). Katelin's current research project focuses on diabetes and its complications, more specifically kidney nephropathy. She is trying to characterize the function and contribution of key metabolic proteins and enzymes to the pathogenesis of kidney nephropathy with the goal of identifying novel strategies to either alleviate or treat the disease using pharmacological, genetic, or nutritional approaches. Katelins prospective goals for the future include pursuing a professional career in research and working to improve translational applications of research in a clinical setting.

Ahmed Elshaarrawi

Graduate Student
Department of Nutrition

541E Mossman Building
1311 West Cumberland Avenue
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Knoxville, TN 37996-1920
Tel: 865-974-6267
email: aelshaar@vols.utk.edu

Ahmed Elshaarrawi is a current PhD student in the Genome science and technology program (GST) at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) and a Fulbright alumni. He got his master from UNCG with focus of Wnt signaling specifically Wnt5a isoforms in colon cancer and received his Bachelor in Zoology from Alexandria University, Egypt. Ahmed’s current research project focuses on Wnt signaling in inflammation and cancer. Ahmeds’s prospective goals for the future include pursuing a professional career in research and academia.

Nick Gill

Graduate Student
Department of Nutrition

541E Mossman Building
1311 West Cumberland Avenue
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Knoxville, TN 37996-1920
Tel: 865-974-6267
email: ngill1@vols.utk.edu

Nicholas Gill is an doctoral candidate in Biomedical Nutrition Sciences at the University of Tennessee - Knoxville. His current research investigates the role of dietary supplements in attenuating insulin resistance and inflammation using in vitro models of obesity and diabetes.

Praveen Kumar Jadi, PhD

Post Doc Fellow
Department of Nutrition

541E Mossman Building
1311 West Cumberland Avenue
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Knoxville, TN 37996-1920
Tel: 865-974-6267
email: pjadi@utk.edu

Dr. Praveen Kumar Jadi is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Department of Nutrition, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee. He obtained his Doctoral degree (PhD) from the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, India and master’s degree (M.Sc.) from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad (JNTUH). During his PhD thesis, he explored the protective role of North-East Indian origin silk against oxidative stress and UV radiation induced skin damage. Additionally, he has wide experience in the field of drug delivery, cancer biology, biomaterials for tissue engineering, and corneal keratitis. He is an author and co-author of 16 research articles published in international journals among them 7 are first author, 2 are equal contributions and remaining are as co-author.

As a postdoctoral research associate, he is trying to understand the molecular mechanism of AICAR transformylase in contributing to the metabolic disorders like diabetes. This would help in developing novel therapeutics for metabolic disorders.