Excited about participating in our clinical trials?

Here’s what you need to know about our Clinical Research Core, Part 1

We are thrilled with the community’s enthusiastic response to our new clinical research program. Well known for groundbreaking basic research using worms, flies and mice, the Buck is proud to expand our scientific studies to include humans. The new Clinical Research Core (CRC) is where the action happens as we investigate insights uncovered by basic research to figure out which discoveries can be useful to promote healthy aging.

“This Core gives us a way to translate our science, where appropriate, into people,” says Brianna Stubbs, PhD, Director of Translational Science at the Buck. Stubbs runs the CRC along with Assistant Professor John Newman MD, PhD, who also is also faculty in the Division of Geriatrics at UCSF and practices geriatric medicine at the San Francisco Veterans Hospital. The Buck’s foray into clinical trials has enabled him to connect his clinical practice with his basic research lab through the CRC.

It can be a long way from making discoveries in the lab to changing people’s health, says Newman. Basic science and clinical research often operate in their own silos, speaking different languages and not understanding each other’s work. A decade ago, Newman was involved in early efforts to accelerate moving geroscience out of the lab by bringing together basic scientists and clinical researchers to learn from each other and bridge that gap. Now he’s putting those lessons to work at the Buck, bringing together expertise from both worlds to make the transition from the lab to the clinic seamless.

“It’s extremely rewarding to work on bringing discoveries from my own and other Buck labs from the bench to the bedside. The older patients I care for in the hospital could really benefit one day from this effort, as could all of us,” says Newman. “So for me the work is very personal, it’s my mission.” He adds that the Buck’s center is part of a larger effort to create centers for translational geroscience around the globe, including programs for standardizing protocols and training new investigators.

Getting familiar with our Clinical Research Core

The CRC consists of everything needed to conduct clinical studies in one space: a meeting area, study rooms, exercise bikes and other specialized tools to measure physical and cognitive function, and facilities for processing and storing biological samples. Samples are shared with laboratories around the Buck to apply cutting-edge molecular analyses to link human biology to basic science. The information collected and data generated are used for scientific publications and presentations that contribute to research on aging and may guide the development of interventions and therapeutics.

The CRC does not practice medicine and doesn’t make diagnoses or prescribe medications. The studies done here involve everyone from healthy younger people to elite older athletes to older adults managing their chronic conditions and beginning to experience deficits with age. “You don’t have to be running marathons,” says Newman. “We need to study aging in all of us, especially people who are experiencing its effects.”

Now that the capacity to do human studies exists at the Buck, researchers who wonder about the human relevance of their basic biological discoveries can begin to efficiently answer their questions. “The biggest barrier to translation is that very first step,” says Newman.

“The Clinical Research Core is meant to be accretive to doing good basic science, not to take away from it,” says Stubbs. “It’s energizing for everyone here to see this next step in the work, and we hope that can be a big continuing part of what we do at the Buck.”

There’s a lot more to learn about our Clinical Research Core! Be sure to check out Part 2 of this story in our next Buck Blog, coming in two weeks.

For more information on our clinical trials and to show your interest in participating, please go to: https://www.buckinstitute.org/clinical-trials/

Brianna Stubbs recently did a community seminar focused on our clinical trials.  Watch it here.