By Keith Randall, Texas A&M Marketing and Communications
Texas A&M University opened its new Human Clinical Research Facility (HCRF) on Tuesday, and the building will be home to some of the world’s leading research and education in human health, performance, nutrition and well-being.
“This facility will be a world leader in innovation and research, and the knowledge created from it will influence generations to come,” noted U.S. Rep. Bill Flores, a 1976 Texas A&M graduate.
“The investments we make in buildings such as this are investments going forward and they are critical to Tier 1 universities such as Texas A&M. I am especially interested in it because I am among the age group they will be studying here.”
Added Texas A&M President Michael K. Young, “This is a vision that has come to fruition. The collaboration among the colleges, researchers and students will produce knowledge that will benefit people around the world. Such a facility as this is central to all we do.”
The 21,518-square-foot facility has been developed to provide a centralized research facility for clinical researchers to conduct much-needed human clinical research trials. The building includes an exercise training and rehabilitation core to conduct supervised endurance and resistance-exercise based training and rehabilitation programs for healthy individuals or individuals with disease under medical supervision; an exercise physiology and body composition core for research in nutrition, exercise and clinical intervention assessments and research trials; a clinical research unit consisting of a 12-bed overnight stay unit to run 24/7 human clinical trials, a nurses’ station and a metabolic kitchen for nutritional studies; a compounding unit to prepare medicines for human use; a mass spectrometry and analytical core for comprehensive in-depth analysis of metabolic, nutritional, and clinical markers; and an education unit to provide an open environment for education, collaboration, and student mentoring.
HCRF organizers note that a critical goal of the facility will be improving the lives of individuals and entire communities for a healthier Texas and world.
“We hope to change lives of people for years to come,” said Joyce Alexander, dean of the College of Education and Human Development.
“We want to create new knowledge and new futures, and this facility will be among the best in the world for research and education.”
The HCRF houses two primary research groups from the Department of Health & Kinesiology in the College of Education and Human Development — the Exercise and Sport Nutrition Laboratory (ESNL) and the Center for Translational Research in Aging and Longevity (CTRAL). The ESNL was developed in 1997 under the direction of Richard Kreider and focuses on the role of exercise and nutrition on health, disease, rehabilitation and performance. The CTRAL was developed in 2006 under the direction of Nicholaas Deutz and Marielle Engelen and concentrates on nutrition, exercise and metabolism in relation to aging and the common diseases of the country’s aging population.
“We know that exercise and nutrition are two keys to human health, and we will be leaders in these areas,” added Kreider. “Aggies are bold and have a vision and they lead by example, and a facility like this will help people have a better quality of life.”
More information about the facility can be found on the HCRF website.