Nutrition, Exercise and Phenotype Testing Core

Current services include dietary assessment design and execution, nutrition counseling, and menu/meal development, and DEXA. We are physically located in the Michigan Clinical Research Unit (MCRU) on Level 1 of the Cardiovascular Center (CVC) of UMHS, this facility includes a full metabolic kitchen, and NAL staff offices, and a DEXA room.

Registered dietitians, staff nutritionists, and experienced metabolic kitchen staff provide comprehensive dietary and nutrition services to all U-M investigators. NAL staff are available to perform nutrition assessments using a wide variety of methods including, but not limited to: 24-hour dietary recalls utilizing the USDA 5 pass method; daily food records/diaries; validated food frequency questionnaires; and short surveys or screeners. All 24-hour recalls and records are analyzed using the Nutrition Data System for Research (NDSR), a well-researched and developed program specifically designed for the collection and analysis of 24-hour dietary recalls, food records, menus, and recipes.

In addition, research dietitians are available for general or individualized nutritional counseling, and for the design and development of individualized meals/menus to fit study-specific parameters for energy, macronutrient and micronutrient content. Experience includes, but is not limited to: weight loss and/or maintenance; low FODMAP diets (for those experiencing IBS symptomology), Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH); low sodium diets; diets for Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) and the inclusion or exclusion of specific macro- or micronutrients.

NAL staff are experienced in preparing and delivering timed, calculated meals for both short and extended-stay participants. The various menus and diets developed to meet the needs of past and current studies include: limited copper; specified calories with various macronutrient distribution; Ketogenic; CYP450 restricted; and severe sodium restriction (<450 mg), vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free, and standard meals per protocol. Outpatient meal preparation and packaging are available, as well as gram weight measurement of pre- and post-meal delivery.

Contact Us

For more information, please email:

[email protected]

Current services include a variety of exercise tests, physical activity assessment design and execution, and support for supervised exercise interventions. We are primarily located in Lobby M of Dominos Farms (Room 2121). This facility includes an exercise/metabolic testing room and an anthropometric assessment room (including Bod Pod and DEXA). There is also an exercise physiology testing room available within the MCRU on Level 1 of the CVC.

The Physical Activity Laboratory (PAL) is committed to the study of physical activity, fitness and exercise. Our experienced team of exercise physiologists and researchers assists in design and implementation of related assessments and protocols within research projects.

Core services include a wide range of exercise tests as well as support for supervised exercise interventions. Available assessments include, but are not limited to, VO2 peak, max and submax (treadmill, cycle), strength (designated repetition maximum tests, grip strength), flexibility (sit-and-reach, shoulder stretch), frailty (timed up-and-go, walking distance/pace) and free living physical activity and sleep (accelerometry). PAL can also assist in selection and design of appropriate assessments and interventions.

PAL has experience with individuals of various ages and physical and mental abilities. PAL has designed and implemented fitness related protocols in special populations, including but not limited to cancer patients, obese pediatrics, adults with cerebral palsy, children with Downs Syndrome and obese adults with multiple comorbidities. Additionally, PAL serves as a primary testing site for the Investigational Weight Management Clinic, a NORC Demonstration Unit.

PAL regularly develops study and population specific assessments and interventions.

In addition, PAL provides accelerometry support, both “full-service” and “ala carte”.  Full-service support is for study teams who do not plan to have any direct involvement in collecting accelerometry data for their studies (Full-service support includes ALL of the services listed below). For study teams planning to be actively involved, we will help you determine which ala carte services you’d like to access. 

We currently provide: 

1) Device rental (we have 30 Actigraphs); 

2) Data collection set up; 

3) Support services during an intervention; and 

4) Assistance with data cleaning and interpretation. PAL does not offer statistical support for data analysis.

Contact Us

For more information, please email:

[email protected]

Current services include anthropometric assessment, clamp procedures, glucose tracers, tissue biopsies, and IVGTT. Metabolic phenotyping services are provided at both locations depending on the specific service being requested and your other study needs. In addition, we offer PEA POD services near the NICU in Mott.

NExT Core offers an array of more general phenotyping tests to support research projects. These include: anthropometery and body composition analysis, resting metabolic rate, assessments of insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance, systemic substrate kinetics, and tissue-specific analysis.

Anthropometry and Body Composition

Core staff members have completed extensive technical and clinical training and can conduct assessments in infants through the elderly as well as in a wide variety of special populations. We can conduct assessments for you, and/or can train your team to complete assessments per standard protocols. NExT Core intra- and inter-tester variability within repeatability trials are available upon request (we can also teach your study team how to do this within your group). NExT Core also offers skinfold, circumference and standard anthropometric assessments. The latter three assessments can easily be incorporated into many study protocols - including community-based research.

Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) utilizes a very low level of radiation (less than that to which you are exposed on a flight from east to west coast of the US) and requires that participants remain still on an open table for about twenty minutes. It provides a three-compartment model of body composition (fat mass, bone mass, lean mass) as well as regional composition (i.e. trunk, arms, legs, etc.).  We have successfully tested babies through elderly individuals. This technology is now considered by many to be a “gold standard” in body composition analysis and bone density measurement. The DEXA machine is a GE Lunar Prodigy ADVANCE Plus and is located at the CVC MCRU site.

If you would prefer a radiation-free option and/or one that does not require that participants remain still for quite as long, MNORC also measures body composition via air-displacement plethysmography.  In this two-compartment model of body composition (fat mass, fat-free mass), participants sit in an enclosed system with a large window for only a few minutes at a time.  We can assess newborns and infants (1kg – 8kg body weight) in our PEA POD, toddlers and young children in our BOD POD with the assistance of pediatric attachments (similar to a high-chair) and children through older adults in the standard BOD POD system. The BOD POD is located in Lobby M of Domino’s Farms, and the PEA POD is located near the NICU in Mott.

NExT Core staff includes a trained DEXA (dual energy x-ray absorptiometry) technician. This technology is now considered by many to be a “gold standard” in body composition analysis and bone density measurement. The DEXA machine is a GE Lunar Prodigy ADVANCE Plus and is located at the CVC MCRU site.

NExT Core staff are trained to conduct air-displacement plethysmography (Bod Pod) assessments for body composition. The Bod Pod is located at the Dominos Farms site.

Resting Metabolic Rate

The NExT Core staff can assess resting energy expenditure in adult and some pediatric populations using an Indirect Calorimetry System with both mouthpiece/nose clip and canopy attachments to facilitate measurement at either the CVC MCRU or the Dominos Farms site.

Assessments of Insulin Sensitivity and Glucose Tolerance

NExT Core staff are trained to perform an array of measurements to assess insulin sensitivity. These techniques include: hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamps, intravenous glucose tolerance tests (IVGTT), oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT), and mixed meal Tolerance Tests (MMTT). These procedures can be performed in the CVC MCRU site.  Importantly, while the NExT Core staff can conduct these testing procedures, the study teams will need to provide an MD, RN, or NP on-site to be present during the administration of insulin, and they will need to outsource the measurements of plasma glucose and insulin concentrations. (These assays can be performed through the Michigan Diabetes Research Center’s Clinical Core). NExT Core can use these measures of plasma glucose and insulin concentration to provide summarized calculations of insulin sensitivity, glucose tolerance, and/or meal tolerance for each of your participants.

Systemic Substrate Kinetics

We can quantify the following physiologic measures in your participants using stable isotope tracer infusion methodology and gas chromatograph mass spectrometry analysis.

• Hepatic glucose production (Glucose Ra)
• Systemic glucose uptake (Glucose Rd)
• Whole-body lipolytic rate (Glycerol Ra)

Tissue-Specific Analysis

We can assist your project by performing subcutaneous adipose tissue and/or skeletal muscle tissue (vastus lateralis) biopsies. After collecting the tissue samples, they will be frozen and stored at -80°C – ready for pick-up by your study team. NExT Core staff can also perform microdialysis procedures to quantify local metabolism within skeletal muscle and adipose tissue in vivo. All of these procedures must be performed in the CVC MCRU site.