Metabolic research

Scope

Over the last thirty years, the metabolic research of the department has matured from 'black box' biochemical research to innovative in vivo inter-organ amino acid and protein metabolism research, facilitating a great number of PhD studies and gaining national and international accreditation. New analytical approaches, including mass spectrometry, have been introduced to, among others, facilitate stable isotopes tracing. More recently, techniques have been developed to probe the development of gut permeability and short chain fatty acid metabolism. 

Facility

Three fully automated Liquid chromatography mass spectrometry systems are housed within an acclimatized laboratory, together with four stand-alone HPLC systems and surrounding equipment. The facility is operated using a high degree of automatization, enabling maximal output with minimal personnel involvement and has an open access to support research from collaborating groups within NUTRIM, and the MUMC+ as well as from outside this organization.