Human Phenotyping Core

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Comprehensive human phenotyping is critical for understanding the risk factors of obesity, to understand mechanisms in health and disease, and to develop programs for obesity prevention and treatment at various stages of life. To accomplish these aims, the Human Phenotyping Core provides state-of-the-art phenotyping services throughout the lifespan, from pregnancy and infancy through childhood, adulthood, and older age. The services of the Human Phenotyping Core directly support the overall focus of the Pennington-Louisiana NORC and provide members with services that: 1) support the full spectrum of research, including both clinical and translational studies, to understand the mechanisms, prevention, and treatment of obesity, 2) provide specialized services for unique populations, such as pregnant women, infants, children, and the geriatric population, and 3) provide training and outreach that make NORC-supported services accessible to all interested NORC members across the State of Louisiana. Through the provision of these services and the expertise of senior investigators and personnel in specialized areas, the Human Phenotyping Core has made a significant impact on the research of NORC members and has provided critical resources to move the fields of nutrition and obesity research forward.

The Human Phenotyping Core is divided into two sub-cores, Energy Balance and Behavioral, and these sub-cores provide expertise and a comprehensive suite of services to support nutrition, obesity, and metabolic research and offer innovative research techniques that foster clinical and translational projects. The services provided by the Human Phenotyping Core are summarized in the list below. Briefly, the Behavioral Sub-core provides remote and in-person intervention services, as well as services to assess cognitive, psychological, and behavioral endpoints. The Energy Balance Sub-core provides services to assess physiological endpoints, such as carbohydrate metabolism, energy expenditure, exercise testing, and adipose tissue kinetics, and has established imaging capabilities, including enhanced body composition and metabolism imaging.

The Human Phenotyping Core recently created the Pennington-Louisiana NORC Biorepository, which is a human data and tissue biorepository that currently contains data from 204 clinical studies and 13,960 human subjects, including an impressive collection of >130,000 biospecimen samples. Users can search the repository and request access to data and samples via the Pennington-Louisiana NORC Repository. The biorepository has and will continue to serve as an important resource to test novel hypotheses and to provide preliminary data for grant applications, particularly for junior investigators. The Core also provides annual training on nutrition and obesity research and human phenotyping via the NIDDK-funded Clinical Methods for Nutrition and Obesity Research course. Finally, the Core has made substantial strides to promote cutting-edge translational research by supporting “bench to bedside and back again” projects, as well as research to evaluate the translation and implementation of empirically supported treatments in the community.

In summary, the Human Phenotyping Core provides users with an extensive array of expertise and cutting-edge phenotyping capabilities, which allows users to phenotype individuals throughout the lifespan. The Core also provides NORC members and users with expert consultation and specialist expertise when planning and implementing research projects. The Core remains dedicated to supporting NORC members, particularly junior investigators.

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Sub-Core I Energy Balance (Directed by Ursula White, PhD)

Services Offered:

• Body composition assessments (anthropometrics, circumferences, skinfold thickness, DXA, CT, BodPod, PeaPod, MRS, MRI, fMRI, Ultrasound, PET scans) in infants, children, adults, and pregnant women
• Carbohydrate metabolism (meal/oral GTT, clamps, FSIGTT, metabolic flexibility, tracers, CGMs)
• Energy expenditure and metabolic rate assessments (ventilated hood, metabolic chamber, doubly labeled water) in infants and adults
• Exercise and functional testing (VO₂max, grip strength, spirometry, accelerometry)
• Metabolic Kitchen (full meal provision)
• Inpatient overnight stays
• Human biospecimen collection and biorepository
• Adipose tissue cell kinetics (subcutaneous fat cell size, deuterium dilution)

Procedures in Development:

• Analogous body composition and metabolic MRI techniques in rodents and humans

Sub-Core II Behavioral (Directed by Corby Martin, PhD)

Services Offered:

• Food intake, appetite, and taste testing across lifespan
• Assessment of infant, child, and adult food intake with smartphone and photography-based methods (e.g., SmartIntake, PortionSize)
• Active and sedentary behavior assessments (e.g., accelerometry)
• Intervention development and delivery (clinic, community, home, and mobile health)
• Internet-based platforms for weight management and time-restricted eating interventions
• Exercise interventions and exergaming
• Observation rooms for behavioral analysis of food intake and activity
• Behavioral and cognitive tests; clinical interviews
• Questionnaires and surveys
• Webcam methods for remote food tracking of diet, exercise, and medication adherence

Procedures in Development:

• Automated  and semi-automated food intake estimates via a smartphone apps (e.g., PortionSize, FoodImage)
• Just-in-time adaptive interventions that rely on remote sensors (smartwatches) to detect eating events