UCSF NORC Overview: Summary The UCSF NORC integrates multiple research programs across several different areas of nutrition, obesity and metabolism. Over the last twelve years, UCSF has actively expanded its research base in these critical subject areas, and for the last four years, the NORC has greatly aided the recent phases of this expansion. Specifically, this robust research base has benefitted from an administrative and facilities infrastructure reflecting the diversity of the departments and centers pushing to expand NORC-relevant research at UCSF. Renewal of the NORC will sustain this cohesive programmatic, administrative and shared facilities infrastructure in order to further integrate the already strong research conducted at UCSF, providing a framework for its coordinated future growth. The UCSF NORC includes cellular, animal, translational, clinical, epidemiological, and behavioral research directions. Despite this breadth, these programs are highly interactive with extensive collaborations amongst even the most divergent of programs. For example, radiologists collaborate with clinical scientists to non- invasively visualize metabolism in humans. Human geneticists collaborate with cellular and animal researchers to investigate hypotheses more tractable in those systems. Behavioral scientists coordinate with nutritionists to search for ways to improve outcomes. In all, the 58 interdisciplinary investigators within the UCSF-NORC consist of a mixture of senior and early stage investigators with a collective 78 NIH grants relevant to obesity, metabolism and nutrition research. Their collective goal is to define the underlying mechanisms of disease and to significantly contribute to the prevention and treatment of obesity and its complications. The purpose of the UCSF-NORC is to promote and grow research in obesity, nutrition, and metabolism at UCSF and throughout northern California. This is realized by: · Maintaining, improving, and promoting the interactions and collaborations of researchers in the field with each other and with those outside the field. · Supporting the maintenance and evolution of state-of-the-art Research Cores to meet the needs of obesity, nutrition, and metabolism research. · Facilitating the development of new research directions and the entry of new researchers into the field via Pilot & Feasibility opportunities. · Enriching the NORC research community through pertinent educational forums and other venues that support the development and maintenance of research interactions. · Integrating administrative support to ensure that the infrastructure meets the needs of the local obesity, nutrition and metabolism research community.