{"id":1730973,"date":"2025-06-17T11:17:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T15:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/faculty-listing\/ejo8b\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T06:31:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T10:31:26","slug":"ejo8b","status":"publish","type":"faculty-listing","link":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/faculty-listing\/ejo8b\/","title":{"rendered":"O’Rourke, Eyleen Jorgelina"},"content":{"rendered":"

All the way up to the 20th century, the human genome has been optimized to survive in environments characterized by fluctuations between periods of feast and famine. These survivor-genomes clash with an environment where calorie-rich foods are readily available. Based on the premise that the gene networks that allow animals to endure starvation are under strong selective pressure and consequently conserved, we use a combination of cutting-edge functional genomics, biochemical, cell biology, genetic, physiological and bioinformatics (computational biology) approaches to identify and characterize the conserved gene networks that allow the animal model Caenorhabditis elegans to adapt to changes in food availability. Ultimately, our research would contribute to better understanding how dysfunctional gene networks affect or cause obesity, diabetes, and other age-related diseases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1734629,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"otheraff":[2401,2392,2408,2409],"phd-degree":[2568],"primary":[2332],"research-discipline":[2487,2492,2512,2498,2495,2510,2489,2499,2490],"research-opportunity":[2540,2545,2563,2549,2550,2547,2561,2542,2543,2560],"training-grant":[2320,2314,2312],"class_list":["post-1730973","faculty-listing","type-faculty-listing","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","otheraff-arts-sciences","otheraff-cardiovascular-research-center","otheraff-cell-biology","otheraff-mstp","phd-degree-phd-cellbiology","primary-biology","research-discipline-biochemistry","research-discipline-bioinformatics-and-genomics","research-discipline-cardiovascular-biology","research-discipline-cell-and-developmental-biology","research-discipline-computational-biology","research-discipline-development-stem-cells-regeneration","research-discipline-genetics","research-discipline-metabolism","research-discipline-molecular-biology","research-opportunity-ro-biochemistry","research-opportunity-ro-bioinformaticsandgenomics","research-opportunity-ro-cardiovasculardisease","research-opportunity-ro-cellbiology","research-opportunity-ro-cellularandmolecularmetabolism","research-opportunity-ro-computationalbiology","research-opportunity-ro-developmentstemcellsandregeneration","research-opportunity-ro-genetics","research-opportunity-ro-molecularbiology","research-opportunity-ro-physiologicalbasisofhumandisease","training-grant-basic-cardiovascular-research-training-grant","training-grant-biotechnology-training-grant","training-grant-training-in-cell-and-molecular-biology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nO'Rourke, Eyleen Jorgelina - Research Faculty Directory<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/faculty-listing\/ejo8b\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"O'Rourke, Eyleen Jorgelina - Research Faculty Directory\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"All the way up to the 20th century, the human genome has been optimized to survive in environments characterized by fluctuations between periods of feast and famine. These survivor-genomes clash with an environment where calorie-rich foods are readily available. Based on the premise that the gene networks that allow animals to endure starvation are under […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/faculty-listing\/ejo8b\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Research Faculty Directory\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-20T10:31:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2025\/06\/ejo8b.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"897\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/faculty-listing\/ejo8b\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/faculty-listing\/ejo8b\/\",\"name\":\"O'Rourke, Eyleen Jorgelina - Research Faculty Directory\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/faculty-listing\/ejo8b\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/faculty-listing\/ejo8b\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2025\/06\/ejo8b.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-17T15:17:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-20T10:31:26+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/faculty-listing\/ejo8b\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/faculty-listing\/ejo8b\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/faculty-listing\/ejo8b\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2025\/06\/ejo8b.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2025\/06\/ejo8b.jpeg\",\"width\":897,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Eyleen Jorgelina O'Rourke\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/faculty-listing\/ejo8b\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"O’Rourke, Eyleen Jorgelina\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/\",\"name\":\"Research Faculty Directory\",\"description\":\"University of Virginia School of Medicine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"O'Rourke, Eyleen Jorgelina - Research Faculty Directory","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/faculty\/faculty-listing\/ejo8b\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"O'Rourke, Eyleen Jorgelina - Research Faculty Directory","og_description":"All the way up to the 20th century, the human genome has been optimized to survive in environments characterized by fluctuations between periods of feast and famine. 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