We request renewed funding to continue the documented success achieved in the first cycle of UAB's Clinical Nutrition Research Unit (CNRU). Inaugurated through NIH funding in 2000 and supported by UAB's formal system of University-wide Interdisciplinary Research Centers, our CNRU fosters multidisciplinary, collaborative approaches to basic clinical and translational nutrition research, with emphasis on obesity. In 1996, UAB established an intramurally-funded University-Wide Obesity-Nutrition Research Center which, with NIH funding, evolved into the present CNRU. Since first funded by NIDDK, our research base has grown from $44M (88% federal; 11 R01s) to $72M (92% federal; 40 R01s) in annual direct funding for nutrition/obesity studies?an overall increase of 61% in research funding. UAB's CNRU has directly helped recruit at least 16 new and established obesity and nutrition investigators in the past funding cycle. Currently, our CNRU leadership oversees an NIDDK-funded T32 post-doctoral training grant for obesity research, a newly awarded industry sponsored pre-doctoral obesity training grant, an NIH-funded R25 Cancer Prevention and Control Training Program emphasizing nutrition, an endowed professorship and endowed chair in nutrition sciences, an NIH-funded U54 Center for Nutrient-Gene Interaction, and an annual series of NIH-funded nutrition and obesity-related short courses and conferences. Our CNRU funds at least four P/F studies per year, a New Investigator, and an extensive Enrichment Program. UAB has granted the CNRU over $1.6M since its inception as an NIH-funded CNRU, developing CNRU Cores in Energy Metabolism/Body Composition, Genetics, Small Animal Phenotyping and Biostatistics, for shared instrumentation, operating expenses and recruitment, resulting in cost-effective research and enhanced access to cutting-edge technology. Approximately 85% of the funded nutrition/obesity studies in our research base use CNRU Cores. Our secondary foci or points of converging research interests including gene-nutrient interaction, dietary effects on oxidative stress, and health effects of phytonutrients and micronutrients are nurtured in synergistic collaboration with other centers on campus including our NCI-funded Comprehensive Cancer Center and our Center for Free-Radical Biology. Backed by exceptional institutional support and academic infrastructure, we request renewed funding to continue our successful nutrition/obesity research.
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