Diabetes, Obesity & Metabolism
Combating Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders
Preclinical
Coupled with our resources is a depth of experience with large animals. In addition to facilities and personnel dedicated to the study and care of the animals, our on-site diet laboratory provides custom diets to induce specific disease-states against which to test your intervention. We are skilled at sourcing the right animal for the study, including offering unique research opportunities through our colony of multi-generational, pedigreed and genomically-sequenced vervet/African green monkeys. These animals naturally develop type 2 diabetes in ways that mimic the human progression of the disease. There is a cohort of these animals available at any one time, ready to be used in small trials or pilots.
Key Areas of Research
- Diet-induced metabolic disorders
- Type 2 diabetes
- Insulin sensitivity and resistance
- Obesity-related cardiovascular conditions
- NAFLD and NASH
- Lipid and lipoprotein profiling
- Effects of diet on gene expression
- β-cell regeneration
Clinical
Our surgical program, staffed by experience bariatric surgeons, has been recognized by the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery as a Surgery Center of Excellence. Dedicated research laboratories such as the Lipid, Lipoprotein and Atherosclerosis Analysis Laboratory provide support for clinical projects.
Key Areas of Research
- Type 2 diabetes
- Lipoprotein metabolism disorders
- NAFLD and NASH
- Obesity and weight loss (surgical, medical or lifestyle)
- Aging-related metabolic disorders
- Pediatric obesity, endocrine and metabolic disorders