Research cooks like Alex Buck, pictured here, prepared over 1,000 meals during the month of September, and supported 70 different studies in 2020.The CCTS Bionutrition Unit offers a range of expertise and scientific capacity to investigators in nutrition-related research. Dietitians are available to help plan, design, and implement the nutritional components of research protocols, inform the recruitment and screening of research participants, and help collect and analyze dietary intake data. The unit is also equipped to work with investigators beyond the CCTS Hub at UAB, investigators like Annet Kirabo, DVM, MSc PhD, assistant professor of medicine and molecular physiology and biophysics at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Kirabo’s team knew about the expertise available nearby and reached out to determine if collaboration was possible. Indeed it was, and now every meal for the study, entitled “Salt-Sensitivity and Immunity Cell Activation” (NCT03753204), is being prepared in Birmingham and shipped to Nashville for study participants enrolled there.

LaleThese meals were prepared for overnight shipping to Nashville, Tennessee for Dr. Kirabo's study participants. Ertuglu, MD, postdoctoral research fellow at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, works in close coordination with the dieticians at UAB, and is pleased with the partnership. “It can be tricky to find a kitchen that can handle a study like this, so this space and team has been indispensable for us. The project requires careful coordination and great communication and their team is proving to be very good at it.”

CCTS Deputy Director and Bionutrition Medical Director, Orlando Gutierrez, MD, looks forward to more partnership opportunities: “This collaboration with Vanderbilt underscores our capacity to support nutrition studies throughout our region, including other CTSA Hubs in the Southeast region. This demonstrates our reach as a regional center of excellence for nutrition research and hopefully will catalyze further studies with regional partners in the future.”

To learn more about clinical services and capacities of the CCTS to strengthen your research, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Written by Katie Bradford | November 8, 2021