Small Animal and Cell Metabolism Analysis Platform

The vocation of the METABOL’IC platform is to offer scientists an exhaustive characterization of the components of energy homeostasis from the cell to the small animal.

PI: Françoise LEVAVASSEUR and Raphaël DENIS

Energy homeostasis in living beings can be defined through the principle of conservation of matter: “Nothing is lost, nothing is created”.

The aim of the Métabol’IC platform is to offer scientists an exhaustive characterisation of the components of energy homeostasis from the cell to the small animal.

Photo montage and design @InstitutCochin. Image from @Agilent technology @Bruker @Sable System

About us:

Located at the Cochin Institute (Inserm U1016, CNRS UMR8104, Université Paris Cité), the METABOL’IC platform is open to the academic and industrial community and under the responsibility of Françoise LEVAVASSEUR and Raphaël DENIS (contact: metabolique.u1016@inserm.fr).

The team has a strong expertise in the field of animal physiology and functional metabolic exploration in animals in vivo. This includes the physiological regulation of metabolic processes as well as the dysregulation of energy metabolism and feeding behavior in pathophysiological conditions such as obesity and diabetes.

The platform is integrated within the department of platforms of the Cochin Institute, which offers a wide range of expertise

Our activity and service:

The platform offers complete services for the exploration of energy metabolism: from the design, implementation and execution of an experimental protocol to the analysis and interpretation of the data in respect of the scientific question. Continuous training courses on metabolic analysis for technical staff and students of Université Paris Cité can be provided.

All scientific protocols are elaborated and carried out in accordance with the ethical and sanitary regulations. We will assist you in the preparation of applications for the use of animals for scientific purposes. Briefly the platform provides an access to:

a housing capacity on both Innovive & Techniplast rack to allow experimental and longitudinal studies with diet and weight monitoring as wall as NMR body composition measurement.
a system of NMR devices allowing the non-invasive and rapid analysis of total fat and lean content, and biological fluid in rodents (LF90II-Bruker) or on biopsy (20-80mg; mq60-Bruker).
an indirect calorimetry system (Promethion) to record various component of the energy balance
- food and water intake
- O2 consumption and CO2 production
- Respiratory quotient (indicator of substrate oxidation)
- Total and resting energy expenditure
- spontaneous locomotor activity
an activity of analysis and interpretation of data collected by indirect calorimetry elsewhere.
a Seahorse XF Pro analyzer, under acquisition, (96 wells) coupled to a “Cell Imager Cytation 1” imaging system offering the possibility to normalize the results. The system will be localized in a L2 type confinement with an access to a PSM, a cell incubator and an experimental room. This system measures in real time oxygen consumption and extracellular acidification rates and ATP production in the mitochondria and from glycolysis of living cells ex vivo.
a dedicated infrastructure to organise and store your data securely.

Team members

A new article from Cécile Haumaitre and collaborators discusses the origin of pancreatic lesions associated with pancreatic cancer

Diabetes Institute, From inflammation to cancer in digestive diseases, Publications

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is currently the fourth leading cause of cancer death worldwide. It is projected to become the second leading cause of cancer death by 2030. Unfortunately, PDAC is often diagnosed at an advanced stage, resulting in a 5-year survival rate of less than 10%. Since the most common precancerous lesions of PDAC are currently not clinically detectable, understanding the mechanisms that lead to their formation and progression is crucial to enabling early diagnosis and more effective therapeutic intervention.