What we do

TREC scientists are studying how the combined effects of obesity, poor diet, and lack of physical activity increase cancer risk. They are also searching for effective ways to prevent obesity. The TREC Research Centers conduct diverse projects that involve scientists from disciplines such as molecular biology, genetics, proteomics, nutrition, physical activity, psychology, sociology, environment, public policy, and statistics. The TREC Coordination Center facilitates interactions across the research centers and between NCI and the centers.

Case Western Reserve University
The Case Western Reserve University TREC Research Center will concentrate on cellular mechanisms, using laboratory models and clinical research that focuses on obesity, metabolic dysfunction, and colorectal cancer risk.

• Obesity and Molecular Pathways Leading to Colon Cancer seeks to determine the intestinal tumor-inducing effect and molecular signaling pathways associated with high-fat diet versus obesity in unique strains of mice with chromosomal substitutions rendering them susceptible or resistant to the obesigenic effects of high-fat diets.  [details]
  Sanford Markowitz, M.D. Ph.D.
  
  
• Insulin Resistance Syndrome Pathway Factors and Colon Polyps will examine candidate gene variance and haplotype, associated biomarkers, and insulin-resistance syndrome-related serum markers to understand how insulin-resistance syndrome, related genes, and dietary factors work in concert in the etiology of human colon neoplasia  [details]
  Li Li, Ph.D.
  
  
• Determinants of Obesity and Metabolic Dysfunction in Adolescents will investigate determinants of obesity and metabolic dysfunction during the critical life-transition period of adolescence. This study will capitalize on a unique population cohort followed as part of the Cleveland Children's Sleep and Health Study and will investigate sleep phenotype and sleep disturbances as novel and important determinants of obesity and its relation to metabolic dysfunction.  [details]
  Susan Redline, M.D.

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
The TREC Research Center at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center will focus on prevention of breast and colorectal cancers, with particular emphasis on diet and physical activity. The project includes an integrated research program examining energy balance and its consequences in cells, animal models, and human subjects. Novel laboratory work in proteomics and metabolomics will include testing the effects of dietary and exercise intervention in order to idenitfy biological signals of adiposity.

• Linking Nutrient Supply & Cell Cycle Survival will bring together basic research efforts under way in our laboratories in an innovative approach to analyzing the cellular effects of hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, and inflammation on growth, proliferation, and survival pathways relevant to oncogenesis.  [details]
  David Hockenbery, M.D.
  
  
• Energy Balance and Cancer: Markers and Mechanisms in Rats will determine, in an animal model, the effects of caloric restriction and exercise, alone and in combination on the carcinogenic response in the mammary gland and on the mechanisms by which changes in energy balance modulate the development of cancer.  [details]
  Henry Thompson, Ph.D.
  
  
• Glycemic Load and Obesity Effects on Cancer Biomarkers will investigate the metabolic and cancer biomarker response to experimental high and low glycemic load diets in lean and obese adults in a controlled feeding study using a randomized crossover design.  [details]
  Johanna Lampe, Ph.D. & Marian Neuhouser, Ph. D.
  
  
• Exercise and Diet: Biomarkers and Mechanisms in Humans within a randomized controlled trial, will investigate the effects of dietary weight loss and exercise, alone and together, on biomarkers of inflammation and DNA damage and repair, and the influences of genetic polymorphisms on these associations.  [details]
  Anne McTiernan, M.D. Ph.D. & Neli Ulrich, Ph.D.
  
  
• Preventing Obesity in Low Income Working Adults will test a worksite obesity prevention intervention in a geographic area with a large representation of low income and minority individuals, to determine whether the intervention has any impact on body mass index and markers of insulin resistance and inflammation.  [details]
  Shirley Beresford, Ph.D.

University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota TREC Research Center will focus on population studies that examine the causes of, and effective prevention strategies for, obesity in youth and families.

• Etiology of Adolescent Obesity is a multifactorial, cross-sectional, prospective observational study examining predictors of obesity development in adolescents, including sociocultural factors, family factors, environmental factors, and individual factors.  [details]
  Leslie Lytle, Ph.D. R.D.
  
  
• Household Environmental Weight Gain Prevention is a study evaluating a family-based weight-gain prevention intervention that particularly emphasizes intervention on environmental contributors to weight gain.  [details]
  Simone French, Ph.D.
  
  
• Women in Steady Exercise Research (WISER) is a study of the effects of physical activity on estrogen metabolism, oxidative stress, and DNA repair mechanisms in young women.  [details]
  Mindy Kurzer, Ph.D.

University of Southern California
The University of Southern California TREC Research Center will explore the physiologic, metabolic, genetic, behavioral, and environmental influences on obesity and cancer risk in minority children.

• Obesity-Related Metabolic Risk for Cancer: Ethnicity and Response to Exercise in Minority Youth will examine ethnic differences in obesity-related metabolic risk factors for cancer in Hispanic and African American youth and the potential role of strength training as an innovative intervention for improving these risk factors.  [details]
  Michael Goran, Ph.D.
  
  
• Insulin Resistance and Declining Physical Activity Levels in African American and Latina Girls will examine the biological and behavioral bases for the decline in physical activity during puberty in minority girls.  [details]
  Donna Spruijt-Metz, Ph.D.
  
  
• Influence of Built Environments on the Development of Obesity During Childhood will examine the "built" environment and urban sprawl as risk factors for the development of obesity in children.  [details]
  Michael Jerrett, Ph.D.

TREC Coordination Center
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center also serves as the Coordination Center for the TREC initiative. This center supports communication, dissemination, data sharing, and collaboration among the TREC Research Centers and NCI. The TREC Coordination Center:

• Collaborates with the TREC Research Centers to lead the scientific development of data methods and systems to promote collaborative research on energetics and cancer.
  
  
• Provides centralized operational support for the TREC initiative through organizing regular TREC meetings and establishing a communication infrastructure for information exchange.
  
  
• Facilitates the training of new investigators through the identification and coordination of training workshops.
  
  
• Disseminates TREC research knowledge through creation of a public web site and organization of sessions at scientific meetings.
  
  
• Collaborates with the NCI to develop evaluation metrics for the TREC initiative and perform the evaluation on a regular basis.