Research Resources
Adult Clinical Unit at the University of Washington Medical Center
What is the UW Clinical Research Center (CRC)?
The University of Washington (UW) Clinical Research Center (CRC) is a core resource within
the Institute of Translational Health Sciences (ITHS) that functions to provide clinical
research space and support for investigators conducting research with human subjects. The
CRC operates as a "fee for service" core. Investigators planning to use the CRC
for their research must work with Center staff to plan a budget for any grant or proposal
submission. Any grant submitted on or after March 1, 2008 must have a CRC budget associated
with the proposal to have access to the CRC facilities. 
The mission of the CRC is to enable
investigators to conduct clinical research protocols in the clinical setting. Research, rather
than patient service, is the primary purpose of admission to the unit.
We provide both inpatient and outpatients services. Our nurses are full time clinical research
nurses who are trained in Good Clinical Practices. A primary nurse will be assigned to work on
your study. The primary nurse develops a protocol notebook that serves as a standard reference
and guide for implementation for the study. The notebook includes a protocol synopsis, copy of
the full protocol, research flow sheets and source document forms, physician's orders, etc. It
details the specific standardized procedures required for implementation of the study. The
primary nurse becomes a member of your research team. We make every attempt to assign you the
same primary nurse for your protocols so that person can develop some level of expertise in your
research area.
Located at University of Washington Medical Center on 7 South, the CRC facility is a resource
for faculty at UW, CHRMC and other Seattle area medical centers. Space dedicated to the CRC
patient care area includes five patient care rooms (a total of 9 beds) for both overnight and
day use; three patient care rooms (a total of 7 recliner chairs) for day use; a multi-purpose
room used for sleep monitoring, blood draws, interviews; a handicap accessible shower/toilet;
a clean utility and medication room; soiled utility and specimen processing room; staff work
room; nourishment room / tray hold area; and a conference room.
What services does the CRC offer?
Key Services
- Clinic space where you can see your outpatient subjects
- Inpatient unit where your inpatient subjects can be hospitalized overnight or for prolonged stays
-
Nursing staff trained in Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and expert in implementing research protocols
- Development of orders for all your protocols
-
Assistance with research study documents under GCP compliance
- Study questionnaires
- Source documents
- Procedure checklists
- A primary nurse specifically assigned to your protocol to function as a member of your clinical research team
- Short-term storage of specimens in our laboratory
- Conference room use for scheduling research projects or your clinical research meetings
- Assistance in developing appropriate safety plans for your studies
If you have any questions about the procedures we are able to perform on the CRC, please call
our Nurse Manager.
What types of studies are appropriate for the CRC?
The CRC is available for anyone to use, regardless of department, school, or even institution.
We conduct investigator initiated studies, studies performed with industry sponsors, as well as
pilot studies. The CRC can conduct therapeutic trials, observational studies, feeding trials,
questionnaire based studies and even population based studies requiring high throughput blood
draws and sample collection for research on novel biomarkers. If you have any questions about
whether your study is right for the CRC please call our Nurse Manager. Examples of some of the
type of research we conduct are listed below:
Major Areas of Investigation
Anesthesiology:
Pain control in children, post-operative agitation in children.
Cardiology:
Atherosclerosis progression; nonintervention technology in assessment of cardiac function, role
of exercise in modulating heart failure
Endocrinology and Metabolism:
Pathophysiology of type I and type II diabetes; mechanism of insulin secretion and role of
other gastrointestinal peptides; complications of diabetes; mechanism of body weight regulation
Gastroenterology:
Interventional therapy for chronic hepatitis, treatment for children infected with hepatitis.
Gene and Cell Therapy:
Adoptive immunotherapy with gene modified or unmodified T cells for metastatic melanoma and
lymphoma
Hematology:
Effect of recombinant colony-stimulating factors in cyclic and chronic neutropenia and in
normal neutrophil kinetics; progenitor cell mobilization in sickle cell anemia.
HIV:
Pain control and HIV, novel therapeutics for HIV, methods for monitoring HIV infection, HIV
infection in pregnancy.
Immunology:
Acquired and genetic syndromes of diminished resistance to infection. Chronic neutropenia, study
of immunity and cancer. Clinical trials of cancer vaccines.
Infectious Diseases:
Multidrug therapy for HIV infection, multidrug and biological response modifier therapy for
hepatitis B and C, kinetics of HSV infections, HSV infections post transplant.
Nephrology:
Kidney transplant rejection studies, glomerulosclerosis in children, kidney transplants in children.
Neurology:
New therapies for multiple sclerosis.
Obstetrics and Gynecology:
Role of central obesity in postmenopausal women and in placenta previa.
Oncology:
New transplant therapies for leukemia and lymphoma, vaccine therapy for breast and ovarian
cancer, immunotherapy for cancer, novel strategies for treating brain tumors in children,
T cell therapy and immune therapy for melanoma, antibody therapy for lymphoma.
Pharmacology:
Drug metabolism in pregnancy, pharmacology of anti-viral agents, drug levels in mothers milk.
Psychiatry:
Hormonal control of brain function, childhood schizophrenia, adolescent patterns of self-harm,
studies of family depression.
Pulmonary:
New therapies for cystic fibrosis (CF), quality of life studies in CF, genetic diagnosis of CF,
chronic lung disease in infants, role of environmental exposures in lung injury, immune based
therapies for sarcoidosis, childhood asthma.
Rehabilitation:
Hypnosis in disability related pain
Rheumatology:
Childhood arthritis treatments, cardiac disease in pediatric lupus.