Prevention Center Shared Resource

PROJECT SUMMARY: PREVENTION CENTER SHARED RESOURCE The Prevention Center Shared Resource (PCSR) aims to facilitate transdisciplinary, collaborative research within the Fred Hutch/University of Washington/Seattle Children’s Cancer Consortium, focused on better understanding the contributions of behavior/lifestyle modification, nutrition, physical activity, and obesity to cancer development, prognosis, and survivorship. Centrally located at Fred Hutch, the PCSR accomplishes this by providing Consortium investigators access to well-trained staff and a full-service research facility (over 10,000 sq ft) that contains a Research Clinic (RC), Exercise Research Center (ERC), and Human Nutrition Lab (HNL). The RC is staffed with medical personnel who can perform clinical assessments, collect biospecimens (including various biopsies), and obtain detailed anthropometry, including DXA-based measurements. The ERC conducts exercise training and testing, including VO2 max, spirometry, and indirect calorimetry. Trained exercise physiologists are available to help investigators design tailored exercise programs and to oversee exercise sessions in-person or remotely for study participants. The HNL provides comprehensive support for the conduct of human feeding studies as well as the food component of behavioral and community nutrition intervention studies. Services include study diet design, food production and delivery, meal service, in-person or remotely delivered nutritional counseling, data collection, and study participant management and monitoring according to diet intake protocols. The highly qualified and experienced PCSR staff provide the expertise necessary to perform interventions in physical activity, diet development and production, lifestyle counseling, and clinical services. This allows Consortium investigators to conduct such studies without incurring the expense of hiring and training their own staff or needing to find the appropriate physical space. The PCSR also provides training and certification for technical staff and serves as a support resource and training facility for investigators, post- doctoral and clinical fellows, and students interested in exercise science and nutrition research. Given the increasing number of individuals in the US affected by cancer, it is of great importance to identify preventable causes of cancer and ways to improve the quality of life among cancer survivors. The long-term goal of the PCSR is to maintain itself as a unique, cutting-edge resource for the Consortium and to facilitate advances in our knowledge of the behavioral/lifestyle, nutritional, physical activity, and obesity-related contributors to cancer development, prognosis, and survivorship. Specifically in the next funding period, the PCSR will continue to collaborate closely with investigators to develop cost-effective and scientifically rigorous methods by which interventions targeting these contributors can be delivered remotely, which will allow greater access of Consortium research to geographically distant catchment areas where greater proportions of underserved and racial/ethnic minorities reside.