• Nutrigenomics: gene-nutrient interactions, nutrient regulation of gene experssion, metabolic effects of genetic polymophisms and how these contribute to chronic disease
• Metabolism & Epigenomics: impact of metabolism on epigenetic processes such as DNA methylation

Recent evidence suggests that a mother's diet during pregnancy can influence the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in their adult children. Currently my research focuses on determining how this occurs. I speculate that maternal diet during pregnancy can influence gene expression in children through epigenetic processes, defined as heritable changes in gene expression that occur without a change in the DNA sequence of the gene. I’m conducting studies in mice to determine the roles of prenatal and early postnatal diet and the role of epigenetic processes in the development of CVD, and am addressing the questions: if diet during adult life can change epigenetic processes, what happens to offspring exposed early in development to a similar nutrient insult, and are there consequences later in life? Overall determining how diet and epigenetic processes contribute to CVD will aid in the development of early screening tools for at-risk children, and novel therapeutic targets for prevention and treatment of CVD.

DNA Methylation & Vascular Gene Expression
The goal of this project is to determine the effect of hyperhomocysteinemia, a cardiovascular disease risk factor, on loss of genomic imprinting of H19 , and to determine the role of H19 in the vascular pathology associated with hyperhomocysteinemia in mice. These studies are funded by the American Heart Association.

Maternal Diet & Epigenetic Regulation of Gene Expression
The goal of this project is to determine the effect of in utero exposure to changes in maternal homocysteine levels on epigenetic regulation of vascular gene expression in mice. These studies are funded by the Hospital for Sick Children Foundation.

Vieira AR and Devlin AM. (2004) Glutamate Carboxypeptidase II (GCPII) His475Tyr polymorphism and association studies. Am J Med Genet 130A:329.

Devlin AM, Bottiglieri T, Faraci FM, Rozen R, and Lentz SR. (2004) Effect of MTHFR genotype on diet ­induced hyperhomocysteinemia and vascular dysfunction. Blood 1 03:2624-2629.

Morin I, Devlin AM, Leclerc D, Sabbaghian N, Halsted CH, Finnell R, Rozen R. (2003) Evaluation of genetic variants in the reduced folate carrier and in glutamate carboxypeptidase II for spina bifida risk. Mole Genet Metabolism 79:197-200.

Halsted CH, Villanueva J, Devlin AM, Parkkila S, Niemela 0, Garrow T, Wallock L, Shigenaga M, Melnyk S, and James SJ. (2002) Folate deficiency disturbs hepatic methionine metabolism and promotes liver injury in the ethanol-fed micropig. Proc Natl Acad Sci 99: 1 0072-1 0077.

Halsted CH, Villanueava J, Devlin AM and Chandler CJ. (2002) Metabolic interactions of alcohol and folate. J Nutr 132:2367S-2372S.

Halsted CH, Villanueava J, Devlin AM and Chandler CJ. (2002) Folate deficiency, methionine metabolism and alcoholic liver disease. Alcohol 27:169-172.

Halsted CH, Villanueava J, Devlin AM and James SJ. (2002) Interactions of Ethanol and Folate Deficiency in Development of Alcoholic Liver Disease in the Micropig. Trans Am Clin Climatol Assoc 113:151-162.

Villanueava J, Devlin AM and Halsted CH. (2001) Reduced folate carrier: Tissue distribution and effects of chronic ethanol intake in the micropig. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 25:415-420.

Devlin AM, Ling E-H, Pearson J, Fernando S, Clarke R, Smith AD and Halsted CH. (2000) Low serum folate and hyperhomocysteinemia associated with a mutation in human glutamate carboxypeptidase II (GCPII). Hum Mol Genet 9:2837-2844.

Devlin AM and Innis SM. (1999) Dietary phospholipid alters biliary lipid composition in formula-fed piglets. Lipids 34:1313-1318.

McDonald Scholarship Award, 2006-2007

Establishment Award, BC Research Institute for Children's & Women's Health, 2004

New Investigator Award, NIH/University of California, Davis, Clinical Nutrition Research Unit, 2002

American Oil Chemists’ Society Honored Student Award, 88th American Oil Chemists' Society Annual Meeting, Seattle, Washington, 1997

Lazurus Society Foundation Studentship, 1996-97

Canadian Society for Nutritional Sciences Gold Medal Award, 39th Canadian Federation of Biological Sciences Meeting, London Canada, 1996

PhD Studentship, BC Research Institute for Child Health, 1994-96

Sarah Dewell, MSc – Research technician
Rachel Wade, BSc – Research technician