Nebraska center for the prevention of obesity diseases through dietary molecules - obesity and its CO-morbidities are major threats to the health of americans

In less than 20 years, the prevalence of obesity increased from 30.5% to 42.4%, and the prevalence of severe obesity increased from 4.7% to 9.2%. The mission of the nebraska center for the prevention of obesity diseases through dietary molecules (NPOD) is to prevent, treat and cure obesity and CO-morbidities with bioactive food compounds. The focus on bioactive food compounds is a unique niche in obesity research and has afforded NPOD with tools to ameliorate obesity and CO-morbidities through consumer-friendly, economically feasible adjustments to their diets with a negligible effect on taste. In phases 1 and 2, NPOD has delivered on nigms expectations. NPOD has increased its member base 4.9-fold to 59 faculty in 26 departments (representing 571 trainees) at university of nebraska- lincoln (UNL; lead institution), university of nebraska medical center (unmc; strategic partner), and university of nebraska omaha. This growth was achieved through nine tenure-leading faculty appointments, recruiting faculty not previously engaged in obesity research, and providing a home for obesity researchers who previously worked in isolation. To date, NPOD members have secured nearly $195 million in external research funding, a nearly 36:1 return on institutional investment. UNL and unmc have contributed nearly 3500 square feet and $5.5 million to NPOD in phases 1 and 2 with additional institutional commitments in phase 3 and the three years following. Most of the new space was leveraged to develop a new research core (biomedical and obesity research core, borc), which provides state-of-the art services for research on obesity and bioactive food compounds unique in nebraska. Borc has fulfilled 1400 service requests per year that generated $266,335 in annual revenue. NPOD is poised to continue its strong trajectory toward sustainability in phase 3 and beyond through five pillars of NPOD sustainability: institutional commitments, F & a costs, philanthropy, program project grants, and niddk funding through the nutrition and obesity research center (NORC) mechanism. NPOD's pursuit of sustainability will be guided by the following specific aims. Specific aim 1: implement NPOD's succession plan to achieve sustainability through preparing former research project leaders and a new hire to serve as future center director. Specific aim 2: lead borc into long-term sustainability by attracting new users, particularly external users, through continued alignment of services offered with user needs and strengthened promotional activities. Specific aim 3: increase NPOD's critical mass of investigators conducting clinically important research through the center's pilot grants program and a new faculty hire in a tenure leading appointment and expertise in electronic health records. Specific aim 4: increase NPOD's revenue by prioritizing pilot grant applications with a high likelihood of leading to large-scale federal funding. Specific aim 5: intensify efforts to convert NPOD from an nigms-funded cobre to an niddk-funded NORC through nurturing a cohesive group of obesity and nutrition researchers in iowa, kansas, and nebraska.