.png)
Graduate Research Assistant
South Dakota State University
Samitinjaya Dhakal is a Ph.D. candidate in Nutrition and Exercise Sciences at South Dakota State University with expertise in human nutrition, bioinformatics, biostatistics, and R-programming and five years of research experience with intervention studies in free-living humans. Samitinjaya’s current research employs metagenomics, metabolomics, and various bioinformatics techniques to understand gut microbe composition from stool DNA, and their functions from the metabolites produced through their mediation, as well as their association with biomarkers of health and chronic diseases. Samitinjaya’s research interest is to utilize omics-based methods to identify the optimal diet(s) that improves healthspan by preventing aging-related physical, immunometabolic, and cognitive disorders and help address the present challenges in translating large omics data to meaningful practical use to accomplish the goal of precision nutrition.