PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The Nebraska Center for the Prevention of Obesity Diseases through Dietary Molecules (NPOD) at the University of Nebraska supports nutrition and obesity research, particularly as it relates to the identification of biological (i.e., food-borne) signals that prevent, treat, and cure obesity and obesity-related diseases. A key component to NPOD's ability to serve its investigators is the Biomedical and Obesity Research Core (BORC), which was established in Phase 1 with renovated space ($700,000) and new equipment worth more than $1M. BORC works in close collaboration with NPOD's Administrative Core to provide center investigators a seamless flow of research services to enable their research – support that has yielded 375 peer-reviewed publications and over $96M in external funding for NPOD investigators to date. BORC oversees two laboratories (Obesity and Nutrition Laboratory [1,976 sq. ft.] and the Animal Laboratory [606 sq. ft.]), provides access to equipment unique to core research facilities located in Nebraska (e.g., Seahorse metabolic flux analyzer, droplet digital PCR, and Vitros chemistry analyzer), and supports services that include consultation on experimental design, data acquisition, large data processing, and statistical analysis. BORC works with NPOD's Administrative Core to coordinate services provided by NPOD's biostatistics and bioinformatics coordinators and it is networked to the Holland Computer Center, UNL's supercomputing facility, to allow for analysis and storage of large data sets. To date, all of the center's project leaders have used the core and it has served as a useful recruitment tool to attract new hires to the center. BORC currently has 60 registered user laboratories and overall usage has increased from an initial 1,550 samples to more than 25,600 samples annually. BORC recovered 76 percent of costs for salaries and supplies in its first year as a fee-for-service center. BORC's 41 workshops were attended by 598 users and covered topics on equipment usage capabilities and orientation to biostatistics. BORC's Research Tools Development (RTD) program has already yielded tools that have initiated collaborations with investigators at top-tier institutions across the country and led to patent applications and research and licensing agreements. During Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) Phase 2 funding, BORC will continue to move toward long-term sustainability by increasing its efforts to 1) support and adapt services to meet the scientific needs of current investigators and facilitate recruitment of new project leaders and center members; 2) enhance collaborative, rigorous, transparent, and cutting-edge research by using the RTD program to expand scientific capabilities and support enhanced collaborations and establishing an archive to share spare tissues from animal feeding studies; 3) expand Nebraska's biomedical infrastructure and workforce via new equipment, workshops, and train...