Stan Kubow

Degrees

BSc, School of Food Science, McGill University, 1978
MSc, Nutrition, University of Toronto, 1980
PhD, Nutritional Sciences, University of Guelph, 1984

Short Bio

Stan Kubow obtained his PhD in 1984 from University of Guelph after obtaining undergraduate and graduate degrees at McGill University and University of Toronto. He carried out postdoctoral studies at University of Guelph and University of Toronto from 1984-1987 prior to joining the School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition at McGill University as an Assistant Professor in 1987. He has been an Associate Professor since 1993 and also served as Acting Director from 1993-1994. He serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Lipids, Nutrition and Medicine and Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism. He participates as a grant panel member of Tri-council funding agencies including Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). He is recruited regularly by industry to support nutritional, toxicological, biochemical and phytochemical research investigations via grant and research contract support.

Active Affiliations

Editorial Board Member, Nutrition and Medicine
Editorial Board Member, Journal of Lipids
Editorial Board Member, Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism

Research Interests

The major goal of Dr Kubow's research has been to promote human health by developing nutritional strategies to protect against the damaging effects of both external agents (drugs and environmental pollutants) and chronic disease pathologies. To achieve these advances, his laboratory instituted a variety of models to the study how the metabolism of nutrients, drugs and toxins affect disease outcomes (embryo and cell culture, simulated human gut digestion models and animal disease models). He has applied his laboratory-based findings towards nutrition intervention trials to show clinically important improvements in patient populations (chronic fatigue syndrome, cystic fibrosis, fibromyalgia, post-operative colon cancer recovery). Dr Kubow's studies also demonstrated the impact of dietary patterns on chronic disease risk and on the health risks from exposures to pollutants such as methylmercury in different populations (AIDS patients, Cree and Inuit aboriginal populations, obese and overweight children and adolescents). A common theme in his studies is assessment of how nutrients can protect against damage caused by disease processes and environmental toxins.

Current Research

Dr. Kubow’s research interests include the impact of nutritional interventions on a variety of disease outcomes and metabolic disorders using technologically modified food extracts and isolates with enhanced bioactivity including phytochemical extracts, whey and soy proteins and probiotics. These studies have been focussed upon oxidative stress, inflammatory indices, lipoprotein, fatty acid and glucose metabolism as related to cell signaling pathways and disease pathogenesis.

Dr. Kubow’s ongoing research involves human clinical and population studies, animal models and cell culture to investigate the role of nutrition interventions on the metabolic syndrome, gut and lung inflammatory diseases, post-operative surgical recovery, pollutant toxicities and neurological development. Dr. Kubow has multiple collaborations with researchers in the Plant Science Department and Biomedical Engineering Department, the Montreal Children’s Hospital, Montreal General Hospital, and Health Canada in addition to several collaborations with School Faculty. He also has international collaborations with researchers in Barbados, Columbia, Norway, Peru, and United States.

1. Several ongoing projects using a simulated human gut model to examine the microbial biotransformation of polyphenols and the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory bioactivities generated from polyphenolic metabolites
2. Impact of gut microbial metabolism on the biotransformation and tissue toxicities of polychlorinated biphenyls
3. Protective role of polyphenol-rich potato extracts on gut, hepatic, lung and neuronal inflammatory conditions induced by exposure to environmental stressors including ozone and polychlorinated biphenyls
4. Pre-habilitative clinical intervention trial using pressure-processed whey proteins involving surgical patients
5. Examination of the protective effects of apple polyphenols on carcinogenic heterocyclic amine production from meats during frying and subsequent gut microbial metabolism in a human simulated gut model
6. Screening of starch quality and polyphenolic content among potato somaclones and culivars to improve the phytonutrient content of potatoes
7. Utilization of digital imagery for the assessment of after cooking darkening in potatoes

Courses

Publications

To view a list of Dr. Kubow's publications, click here.
Also on Google Scholar

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