Nutrition and tissue and cell adaptation mechanisms

The disorders associated with aging and/or chronic disease result from a combination of genetic predisposition and environmental factors. Their onset may be favored by increased and/or repeated stress on the body's adaptation mechanisms to various types of aggression (malnutrition, overnutrition, pathologies, fatigue, hospitalization, immobilization, etc.). During these stressful episodes, the body's various tissues respond in a coordinated fashion to achieve an integrated adaptive response. The response may vary according to nutritional status, and nutritional requirements may be increased in certain situations of aggression (type, intensity...). This response involves the regulation of various metabolic pathways, which in turn are directed by changes in cellular functions and, further upstream, molecular signalling pathways. Knowledge of these mechanisms is essential to identify potential levers of action against the occurrence of metabolic disorders, and to propose intervention strategies and/or nutritional recommendations adapted to at-risk or more sensitive populations during stressful situations. Our aim is therefore to determine the tissue, cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the body's capacity to adapt to different types of stress.
In order to understand these mechanisms, the UNH strategy is to take into account different levels of study to answer the following questions :
1.    What is the effect of a given stress situation on the specific needs and bioavailability of nutrients at tissue level ?
2.    What are the consequences of these stress situations on tissue and cell function ?
3.    What intracellular signaling mechanisms are involved in these adaptations ?
4.    How can these mechanisms be modulated nutritionally (or possibly pharmacologically), locally at the level of the target tissue or at the level of the whole organism ?
5.    How do epi-genetic modifications induced by early malnutrition influence predisposition to the onset of metabolic disorders ?