Zoie Gavel’s passion for learning about the science of nutrition led her to conduct research that has taken her across California and the United States.
“There’s so much about the basic science [of nutrition] that we don’t understand,” Gavel said. “Research requires a lot of literature review, a lot of critical thinking, and I thought that those would build the skills that I would need for a career focused on fundamental nutrition science.”
Gavel, of Fresno, joined an engineering lab the summer after her freshman year and worked on water treatment research. By fall, she was in a biology lab looking at the metabolism and cellular pathways of C. elegans, a small parasite or worm also known as a nematode. Now, she’s working on nutrition research.
On Wednesday, April 22, at the Resnick Student Union on campus, Gavel will present on the “Association of Antioxidant Genetic Risk Score and Inflammatory Biomarkers” on Fresno State students during the 47th annual Central California Research Symposium. The event, held during Research Week at Fresno State from April 20 to 24, showcases diverse research projects and provides students with the opportunity to share their work and develop presentation skills.
Participating in the symposium for the third time, Gavel will present on research that came out of a USDA study conducted by the Food Science and Nutrition Department focused on nutrition intervention — providing fruits and vegetables to Fresno State students and measuring their metabolic outcomes. Gavel looked at a select number of genes associated with antioxidant activities and converted the genetic variants into a score to determine how at risk someone is for impaired antioxidant capacity or a reduced ability of the body to protect cells from damage. She also measured protein levels to see if there was any correlation between antioxidant genetic risk and levels of inflammation.
“Interestingly, the data yielded no statistically significant results,” said Gavel, who has presented at symposiums in California, Ohio, Texas and Washington, D.C. “It just goes to show that the biology behind this is a lot more complicated than we thought.”
Gavel is graduating in May and will study abroad in Scotland for two weeks this summer before she begins a doctoral program in nutritional biology at UC Davis. She will be among more than 250 students who will give oral and poster presentations at the symposium.
Research Week at Fresno State will also include guest speakers and other presentations on AI, social work, higher education and student affairs, clinical rehab and mental health counseling and more. A full schedule of events is available on the Research Week webpage.
“Research Week highlights the outstanding research, creative and scholarly work of our faculty and students,” said Dr. Jason Bush, associate vice president of Research and Sponsored Programs at Fresno State. “This visibility elevates our reputation and helps attract talent, students, funding and philanthropic support.”
The university has made research a priority under the university’s 2023-29 Strategic Plan with goals to develop operational structures and provide resources to allow faculty and staff to advance research and innovation.
During the 2024-25 academic year, the university received 384 grants and contracts for a total of $78.3 million to support research. Fresno State earned an R2 designation for “Doctoral University — High Research Activity” in 2022 by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, highlighting a significant commitment to growing research activities at the university. Only eight of the 22 universities in the California State University system share this designation.
