Project Grant K01HL179246

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute awarded The Regents Of The University Of Colorado (University of Colorado–Denver) $161,583 on September 1, 2026, under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837) to support Dr. Curtis Tilves's transition to an independent scientist through mentored research training.

Tilves, a research associate at the LifeCourse Epidemiology of Adiposity and Diabetes (LEAD) Center at University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, will develop expertise in conducting and analyzing clinical trials, generating and processing multi-omics data, and applying machine learning to integrate multiple omics measurements. His research leverages plant food genomics and multi-omics analysis to objectively characterize adherence to the DASH diet and quantify plant food diversity, then uses these biomarkers to understand the cardiovascular health impact of dietary approaches. The work addresses the limitation that epidemiologic evidence on healthy dietary patterns relies heavily on self-reported dietary intake, which carries substantial measurement error and systematic bias. Objective dietary biomarkers derived from residual plant food genomics in feces may provide more specific measures than existing high-dimensional omics datasets such as microbiome or metabolome data.

This is a Project Grant, classified as a K01 award—a career development grant supporting mentored research training. Performance runs through June 30, 2031, at Aurora, Colorado.