Minnesota Obesity Center

Metabolic Studies Core

Director: Michael D. Jensen, M.D.
Co-Director: James A. Levine, M.D., Ph.D.


Lab workMetabolic Studies Core is located at the metabolism laboratories at Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota GCRC. The Metabolic Studies Core Laboratory provides access to established and state-of-the-art methods for studying energy metabolism and nutrient partitioning at the whole body level in humans and has upgraded its services to include similar measures in rodents. Measurements provided by the Metabolic Studies Core include doubly-labeled water measurements of energy metabolism, in vivo measurements of lipolysis,
lipid storage and oxidation, measurements of protein
and glucose turnover, indirect calorimetry and
substrate utilization studies. In addition, analysis of
body composition by DEXA is provided at both the
Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota GCRC.

Through this core laboratory, Center investigators receive advice and assistance from established investigators in the application of the techniques for studying energy metabolism and nutrient partitioning to relevant experimental questions. Consolidation of these methods in a single core laboratory is essential because of the cost of the equipment and the need to integrate the measures of body composition, energy expenditure, and nutrient partitioning in order to understand and interpret the data.

The director of the Core is Dr. Michael Jensen who is an acknowledged expert on in-vivo and tracer studies. This Core also provides access to visceral fat measurements using computed tomography (CT) and immunoassays (such as leptin &endash; developed for Minnesota Obesity Center investigators as soon as it became available) through the Mayo Immunochemical Assay Core Laboratory.  .  This Core is visualized as the link between epidemiology based studies and more basic investigation.  This Core will assist in the vertical integration of obesity research within the MN Obesity Center.

Advancements in Metabolic Studies