- Nov 13 ,2025
- by Lynandrea Mejia
- Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research
- MVR 1102 and Zoom
Translational Research Because People’s Lives Depend on It: Reflections from 36 Years at Cornell
This is the kickoff for the Talks at Twelve Series from the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research (BCTR).
Jennifer Tiffany will reflect on and draw examples from her 36-year career leading programs at Cornell, highlighting approaches that offer inspiration and potential pathways forward in these times. This talk will focus on community-engaged translational research with an emphasis on infrastructures supporting sustained partnerships that put communities first while also honoring academic expertise.
Jennifer Tiffany began her
- Dec 12, 2025
- by Marisa LaFalce
- Donor
Dan Berry named Andre Bensadoun Associate Professor of Nutritional Sciences
Daniel Berry has been appointed the Andre Bensadoun, Ph.D. ’60 Associate Professor in the Division of Nutritional Sciences. His research focuses on how adipose tissue develops, functions and contributes to metabolic health.
“Receiving this named professorship is truly an honor,” said Berry. “It gives us the momentum to continue pursuing ambitious scientific questions, sustain long-term progress, and train the next generation of researchers working to advance adipose biology and metabolic health.”
Berry studies fat and
Marlen Gonzalez
My work takes a behavioral ecology perspective on understanding the reciprocal relationships between environments, brains, and behaviors in humans. Specifically, my lab, the Life History Lab, looks at how social and physical affordances in development and in the present impact neural sensitivity to rewards and punishment, vigilance, cognitive load, and stress as well positive stimuli like social support and contemplative practices. These sensitivities can encourage certain behaviors and be influenced by them, creating emergent ecologies
- Dec 12, 2025
- Holistic Human Health
Hanlon advances personalized nutrition through microbiome research
Kalem Hanlon's work sits at the intersection of dietary fiber, the gut microbiome and precision nutrition: a field that explores how genetics, environment and microbiome composition shape individual responses to food.
After experiencing gut issues for much of his life, he became driven to uncover why the same food can benefit one person while offering no advantage, or even discomfort, to another. And when he's not studying how diet shapes microbial health in the Angela
- May 14, 2025
- Community Engagement, Alumni
Veteran 4-H leader Alexa Maille to guide NYS 4-H into the future
After a national search, Alexa Maille ’04 was appointed director of the New York State 4-H Youth Development Program. Maille has held key leadership roles with NYS 4-H, serving as STEM Specialist since 2014 and interim director since January 2024. NYS 4-H is the youth development program for Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) and is in the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research (BCTR).
“I’m excited for Alexa to launch this next chapter for NYS 4-H,” said
- Jun 20, 2024
- by Emily Groff
- Holistic Human Health
Communication between tissues facilitates thermogenesis
Daniel Berry, assistant professor in the Division of Nutritional Sciences, and graduate students in his lab have identified the cellular and molecular mechanisms that govern adaptive thermogenesis, a biological process that researchers believe could be the key to treating obesity, type 2 diabetes and other metabolic disorders.
Their study, published in the journal Cell Reports, outlines the complex intra-organ communication that allows brown adipose tissue to burn calories to produce heat to