The Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center has a large 25,000 square-foot clinical facility and a Clinical Research Core staffed by two clinical coordinators, two full-time recruiters, three dietitians, a neuropsychology technician, clinical laboratory technologist, data manager, registered nurse, and three technical research assistants.
For questions about the Clinical Research Core, contact Research Manager Audrey Martinez, RD. All research studies require potential participants to be screened over the phone. If you are interested in a study and would like to find out if you are eligible, give us a call at 501-364-3309.
Sign up to receive our quarterly newsletter and we will contact you if you or your child may qualify for a study.
Outpatient Unit
The Outpatient Unit has five clinic rooms, three interview rooms, two testing rooms with one-way mirror for observation to conduct psychological and behavioral testing, two indirect calorimetry units (MOXUS) suitable for infant and adult calorimetry, and three phlebotomy rooms.
Clinical Nutrition Laboratory
The Clinical Research Core utilizes Nutrient Data System for Research software to analyze dietary records, and maintains a quiet room for infant feeding that is equipped with a hospital grade Medela Symphony breastmilk pump, four anthropometric measurement rooms, a space dedicated for the measurement of flow-mediated dilation using ultrasound technology, and office space for staff.
Inpatient Unit
The Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center Inpatient Unit has a live-in center, with five overnight rooms with fully equipped bathrooms, lounge, large playroom, nurses’ station, dining room, and a kitchen.
Body Composition Laboratories
The body composition laboratories have a BodPod, PeaPod, two DXA instruments (Hologic Horizon A and QDR4500), and a qNMR custom-built for infants and children (EchoMRI-AH) as well as various scales and stadiometers. A pQCT (for bone) and ultrasound are routinely used and made available for research, in collaboration with Arkansas Children’s Hospital clinics.
Human Sample Laboratory
The Clinical Research Core has a dedicated laboratory to process human biological samples (including placenta, cord, blood, urine, feces, breastmilk, saliva, etc.) and is equipped with all key equipment including a Miris Human Milk Analyzer, laminar flow hoods, incubators for cell culture, centrifuges, refrigerators/freezers, etc.
Recruiting Program
The Clinical Research Core is well supported with two full-time recruiting staff and support from Arkansas Children’s network as well as the UAMS network. All IRB activities are administered through the UAMS system. The Arkansas Children’s Nutrition Center has its own our facebook and Instagram account. If you are interested in a study and would like to find out if you are eligible, give us a call at 501-364-3309. Sign up here to receive our quarterly newsletter and we will contact you if you or your child may qualify for a study.
Psychological Testing and Brain Function Facilities
The lab is equipped to measure electrophysiological indices in infants and children. There is access to two electrically shielded rooms equipped with 128 channel high density EEG recording systems, two E-Prime systems for programming and delivery of behavioral tasks and related equipment necessary for the acquisition and analysis of brain activity and associated physiological measures in infants and children. Find out more about our Brain Research Cores.
Images From the Clinical Research Center
