Vimal Karani

Professor Karani’s primary research interests focus on the investigation of gene-nutrient interactions on metabolic- and cardiovascular disease- related outcomes using combined approaches genetic epidemiology, statistical genetics and molecular biology. His long-term goal is to use the findings from observational studies to carry out human intervention studies with a view towards developing industrial collaborations to facilitate 'Precision Nutrition'. He has initiated a large-scale collaborative project called GeNuIne (Gene-Nutrient Interactions) Collaboration that aims to implement precision nutrition approaches based on the evidence from nutrigenetics, multi-omics, gut health, epigenetics, and dietary intervention studies using cohorts from multiple ethnic groups (such as UK, India, Malaysia, Peru, Indonesia, Brazil, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Morocco, Turkey and Pakistan). His research projects focus on integrating the data from nutrigenetics, metabolomics, epigenetics, gut microbiomics, diet, lifestyle, and clinical, biochemical, and social parameters to predict the risk of cardiometabolic diseases using artificial intelligence based on machine learning algorithms.

Professor Karani is also a study coordinator of a large international collaboration (D-CarDia Collaboration), where he focusses on establishing the causal relationship between 25-hydroxyvitamin D and cardiovascular disease-related outcomes using Mendelian Randomization analysis in >155,000 individuals from the UK, US and Europe and the UK Biobank (N~500, 000).