| The successful candidate will have access to state-of-the-science equipment, facilities, and personnel trained specifically for the clinical trial. A second year of funding is contingent on satisfactory first year performance. Most trial visits will be conducted at the Nutrition and Wellness Research Center (NWRC), located in ISU’s research park district. The NWRC is an interdisciplinary research facility dedicated to studies on health and health-related behaviors. The NWRC includes research and laboratory space, equipment for controlled studies related to diet, exercise and behavior change. Body composition measurements may be assessed via BODPOD, PeaPod, and bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) and bone mineral densitometry via dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Anthropometry assessment and phlebotomy rooms are available for collecting blood and other clinical data. Neuroimaging visits will be conducted at the Magnetic Resonance Research Facility, through the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, located in Iowa City, IA. The MRRF was established in August of 2004 and has a 3T GE Discovery 750W MRI scanner and 7T GE 950 whole body scanner that are 100% research dedicated. State-of-the-science computing facilities include Windows and Unix-based image processing tools (LCModel, Matlab, SPM, AFNI, etc.) The laboratory of the PI (Dr. Auriel Willette) is located on the 2nd floor of the Human Nutrition Sciences Building, Iowa State University. The lab has dual capabilities for basic wet lab techniques (cell culture, IHC, etc.) and an array of PC and Macintosh machines dedicated to dry lab data analytics. Access to a High Performance Computing array and petabyte storage is guaranteed. The research in Dr. Willette’s lab is broadly focused on how obesity-induced metabolic dysfunction i mpacts the aging brain, particularly in Alzheimer’s disease. The goal of the intermittent calorie restriction trial is to see if consumption of a 530 kCal shake on 2 consecutive days, followed by 5 days ad libitum, will reduce metabolic dysfunction in the periphery and the brain in overweight to obese MCI participants. This intervention is expected to result in: 1) more fMRI task activation; 2) more resting state neural network strength in key networks (e.g., Default Mode); and 3) either stable cognition or less cognitive decline compared to active controls.
Iowa State University is strongly invested in interdisciplinary research and opportunities for collaborative team building are available across various fields, including dietetics, neuroscience, immunobiology, genetics, bioengineering, cell and molecular biology, biostatistics, and bioinformatics. ISU supports campus-wide collaborative funding to enhance interdisciplinary research excellence in areas of animal and human health, with new opportunities for expanding research in the biomedical sciences. ISU supports excellent research facilities, including BSL-3 research laboratories, experimental animal facilities, cellular and molecular analysis capabilities, metabolomics, flow cytometry, advanced microscopy and imaging, statistics, and bioinformatics. ISU also has a state-of-the-science High Performance Computing array and dedicated staff for conducting large-scale parallel computing. FSHN values student-centered learning and supports and develops high quality educators. The University provides an intellectual environment committed to academic excellence and diversity, and offers mentoring programs for new faculty and staff. The College of Human Sciences, https://www.hs.iastate.edu/, is a highly regarded college for work in nutritional sciences, kinesiology, human development and family studies, and neuroscience. There are no departmental metrics in the U.S. for nutrition or nutritional sciences. CHS educates future life sciences leaders, conducts high-impact, mission-oriented research from basic to applied and shares new knowledge for the good of society. |
