# Molecular Mechanisms Core

> **NIH NIH P30** · LSU PENNINGTON BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH CTR · 2020 · $252,655

## Abstract

E. Abstract (Molecular Mechanisms Core)
Nutrition and Obesity Research Centers (NORCS) serve as focal points for biomedical research
targeting nutritionally responsive chronic diseases, arguably the greatest public health challenge of the
21st century. In this context, the PBRC NORC has chosen the theme of ‘Nutrition, Obesity, and
Metabolic Health through the Lifespan’, with emphasis on three research focus areas: (1) Maternal/Infant
nutritional status; (2) Pediatric and adulthood obesity and (3) Nutritional status at older age to preserve
physical and cognitive functionality. Nutrition and obesity are significant modulators of whole-body
physiology, as they can impinge upon cellular signaling pathways in essentially every cell type and
tissue of the body. Both short-term and chronic exposure, to e.g. to nutrients, or to metabolic state, can
produce specific cellular or physiological responses. Understanding the mechanisms affected by nutrition,
obesity, or both, and the resulting consequences for metabolic health, represents the critical foundation for
the development of treatments to improve public health, and for the invention of new strategies for
prevention of chronic disease. The Molecular Mechanisms Core provides scientific, technological, and
bioinformatics assistance for investigating the molecular etiology elicited by nutrition, obesity, or both.
The majority of Core technologies are centered on capturing changes in expression of genes and gene
products, both crucial readouts of acute and chronic exposure effects. The Core offers functional genomics
and systems biology tools for transcriptome profiling, methods for expression measurements on the
tissue and cellular level, and powerful quantitative bioimaging technology to localize expression in cells or
tissues with high resolution. Expression measurements are complemented by epigenomics tools to
investigate the upstream regulatory mechanisms, and by procedures to monitor cellular bioenergetics, a
crucial readout of cellular function that affects metabolic health. As a new development, the Core
provides both molecular and imaging techniques towards the analysis of gut microbiome composition,
an important modulator of metabolic health. The Molecular Mechanism Core provides service, method
development, consultation, enrichment, and community outreach to a large user base, and consistently
supports NIH-funded research projects. By offering shared technologies that are typically too complex and
too expensive for research laboratories, and by serving as an intellectual resource, the Core removes
critical barriers to progress in the field for many NORC members and investigators in Louisiana, and
assists them with adapting new technology into their research programs.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9923629
- **Project number:** 5P30DK072476-15
- **Recipient organization:** LSU PENNINGTON BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH CTR
- **Principal Investigator:** Johannes Michael Salbaum
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $252,655
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** — → —

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9923629

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9923629, Molecular Mechanisms Core (5P30DK072476-15). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-10 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9923629. Licensed CC0.

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