| The National Institutes of Health established the General Clinical Research Centers Program in 1959 through a Congressional mandate and the first Clinical Research Centers were opened in 1960. Since that time, the program has expanded and changed to reflect the diversity of research interests and scientific needs within the academic community.
The University of Minnesota General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) is located on the second floors of the Masonic Cancer Center and VFW building. This location provides easy access via a walkway directly to Fairview-University Medical Center. The GCRC offers opportunities for faculty, fellows, residents and students within the Academic Health Center to study normal human physiology, the pathophysiology of human disease, and disease treatments in a setting specifically designed for clinical investigation. The GCRC is available for the study of patients with medical, surgical, pediatric, neurologic, psychiatric, and gynecological disorders, as well as normal physiology in healthy volunteers. Since the Center first opened in 1969, it has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health. Current annual NIH funding for the GCRC is 3.5 million dollars.
Center facilities include ten inpatient beds, a nursing staff of RN's and CMA's specifically trained in clinical research, four outpatient beds, a metabolic kitchen for the preparation of research diets, a networked computer system specifically designed for clinical research, and four Core Laboratories. The Core Laboratories are the Molecular Genetics Core, the Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectroscopy Core, the Magnetic Resonance Core and the Developmental Cell Therapy Core. The GCRC is usually open 7 days a week. Experienced nursing, nutrition, laboratory, computer, and administrative staff are available to provide consultation and professional support to investigators. In addition, a Biostatistical consultant is available to help design studies and help make plans for data analysis.
One of the positive features of the GCRC is its flexibility and ability to respond to changing investigator requirements. This is something in which we take great pride. |
|
|
|
