About Us

The Human Clinical Research Facility (HCRF) is a new 23,000 square foot biomedical research facility that was developed to provide a centralized research facility for clinical researchers to conduct human clinical research trials at Texas A&M University.

The HCRF houses two primary research groups from the Department of Health & Kinesiology in the College of Education and Human Development; the Exercise and Sport Nutrition Laboratory (ESNL) and the Center for Translational Research in Aging and Longevity (CTRAL). The ESNL was developed in 1997 under the direction of Richard B. Kreider, PhD and is dedicated to study the role of exercise and nutrition on health, disease, rehabilitation and performance. The CTRAL was developed in 2006 under the direction of Nicolaas E Deutz, MD, PhD and Marielle P Engelen, PhD and is dedicated to the study of translational research on nutrition, exercise, and metabolism in relation to aging and the common diseases of our aging population.

The HCRF contains facilities to conduct training and rehabilitation research; a large conference / lecture area; offices for faculty, staff, and research assistants; 12 beds for overnight research studies; a metabolic kitchen for feeding studies; a pharmacy compounding room for preparing sterile intravenous solutions; 4 procedure and research examination rooms; DEXA and resting energy expenditure rooms; large physiological testing area; a secured data archive system; nursing station, blood/tissue processing and testing laboratory; biobank with 7 monitored and controlled -80°C freezers with a capacity for 200.000 samples; a comprehensive wet lab facility that can accommodate 4 LC-MS/MS, 2 GC-MS/MS systems, cell culture, routine clinical chemistry applications, ELISA’s etc.

Take a video tour of the HCRF

Principal Investigators within the Texas A&M University system can access the HCRF by collaborating directly with ESNL and/or CTRAL faculty members on sponsored research or working with the HCRF Directors to coordinate data collection on IRB approved protocols on a fee for service basis.

Facility Highlights

• Exercise and Rehabilitation Training Facilities
• Large Conference Room / Lecture Area
• Offices for faculty, staff, and research assistants
• Data Storage Area
• 12 Bed Facility for Overnight Research Studies
• Metabolic Kitchen
• Rehabilitation area
• DEXA and Resting Energy Expenditure Rooms
• Medical Exam & Procedure Rooms
• Compounding facility to prepare solution for intravenous infusion/injections
• Comprehensive Wet Lab Facilities

Principal Investigators within the Texas A&M University system can access the HCRF by collaborating directly with ESNL and CTRAL faculty members on sponsored research or working with the HCRF Directors to coordinate data collection on IRB approved protocols on a fee for service basis

Collaborate directly with HCRF affiliated researchers serving as Co-PI’s or Co-I’s on developing grant and contract proposals; obtaining IRB approval; conducting the clinical trials; data management and analysis; presenting results, and publishing research findings.