Developing the WTCRF in Cambridge: Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and a Nutrition Resource & Appetite Laboratory

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A Wellcome Trust-funded Clinical Research Facility (WTCRF) in Cambridge has been inoperation for several years at a high level (75%) of occupancy. Over 200 projects have beenundertaken, ranging from experimental medicine (where intensive patient investigation leads tounderstanding of disease mechanisms) to trials of treatment. Obesity, Diabetes and InsulinResistance are epidemic worldwide and internationally-recognised research programs inCambridge investigate genetic forms of obesity and insulin resistance, population diabetes,diabetes in childhood, critical illness & metabolism and metabolic storage diseases. Uniquely,our WTCRF contains specialised technologies (e.g.energy expenditure measurement) that arevital for such research and is also the locus for treatment trials (e.g replacement of leptin (anappetite hormone) in obesity or enzymes in storage diseases; prevention of diabetes).Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), technology which allows substances and metabolicpathways in tissues to be measured non-invasively and non-radioactively, has significantlyadvanced knowledge of metabolic disorders including diabetes. Support for an MRS scannertogether with specialist support staff, located within an expanded,existing imaging facility, willadd significantly to our metabolic research programs,with MRS measurements discoveringdisease mechanisms & monitoring treatment response in trials. Energy (food) intake is animportant variable in both specialised (e.g. obesity) or general clinical research, and existingCRF technologies for measuring this are rudimentary. Addition of a CRF Nutrition Resource(staff, diet kitchen) will enable dietary intake of research subjects to be either standardised oraltered in a defined way. An “appetite laboratory”, or mobile apparatus to measurecharacteristics of eating behaviour, is essential for research of obesity and other appetitedisorderedstates.