This application seeks continued funding for the Washington University CNRU. Since our CNRU was originally funded in 1999, it has served as a nidus for the growth and development of nutrition research at Washington University. The research infrastructure in nutrition and obesity provided by the CNRU to investigators has created an environment that supports and stimulates cost-effective and high-quality research, collaborations between investigators, community outreach, career development and training, and clinical activities in nutrition and obesity. These efforts have attracted both new and established investigators, and clinicians to the field. The Washington University CNRU has a talented and diverse research base consisting of 78 investigators from 19 departments. These investigators have 154 nutrition-related grants (130 from federal agencies and 24 from other organizations) generating more than $35 million/year in direct costs. It is our intention to continue to grow CNRU activities, and to continue to bring state-of-the-art methods in molecular biology and clinical investigation to CNRU investigators. The CNRU research focus is on: 1) Nutrient Metabolism in Health and Disease, 2) Obesity and its Complications, 3) Growth, Development, and Aging. We propose an Administrative Core and four Biomedical Research Core Laboratories. The Clinical Science Research Core will provide services to assess body composition and metabolic imaging, energy expenditure, substrate metabolism, and cardiovascular function. The Animal Model Research Core will provide services to investigators using murine models relevant to nutrition, including maintaining breeding colonies of genetically modified mice, genotyping, training in breeding and animal husbandry, biochemical analyses, body composition analyses, metabolic phenotyping, and quantification of atherosclerosis. The Bimolecular Analyses Core will provide services to permit structural identification and quantitation of nutrition-related biomolecules. The Adipocyte Biology Core will provide services in adipose tissue morphology, gene expression, adipokine measurements, and training in specialized research techniques. In addition, the CNRU will fund 5 Pilot/Feasibility Awards and provide a mentoring program for young investigators. The School of Medicine has provided considerable support for the CNRU, including space, equipment for the Biomedical Research Core laboratories, funds for faculty recruitment, and financial support for the Pilot and Feasibility Program.
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