# Metabolic Phenotyping System

> **NIH NIH S10** · PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV HERSHEY MED CTR · 2020 · $464,064

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The comprehensive assessment of energy balance in experimental rodents is crucial to a wide variety of NIH-
funded projects at the Penn State College of Medicine. Such studies include characterization of energy
metabolism in rodent models of obesity, type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, addiction, maternal
programming, spinal cord injury, muscle wasting, and cancer. This proposal requests funds to purchase a TSE
PhenoMaster system with telemetry capabilities and a Bruker TD-NMR LF110 instrument. The TSE
PhenoMaster automated home cage phenotyping system provides metabolic, behavioral, and physiological data
in conscious rodents. This system continuously and simultaneously measures food and water intake, energy
expenditure via indirect gas calorimetry, body weight, body temperature, and locomotor activity. The
PhenoMaster system will be integrated with Stellar implantable telemetry to allow for simultaneous measurement
of biopotentials (e.g. blood pressure, EEG, ECG, EMG, body temperature, activity). The Bruker TD-NMR LF110
system provides assessment of body composition, critical to interpret changes in energy balance found in the
metabolic phenotyping cages. This system provides non-invasive measurement of fat, lean, and fluid mass in
conscious rodents using time-domain magnetic resonance spectroscopy (TD-NMR). The major advantage of the
Bruker LF110 system is that it can be used for both mice and rats with weights ranging from 25 grams to over 1
kilogram (current Bruker LF50 limits size to 300 grams). This is critical for the research of the 6 major and 5
minor users outlined in this application, which often incorporates high fat diet-induced rodent models to study
impact of nutrition, obesity, and type II diabetes on various outcomes. In choosing the requested equipment, we
consulted extensively with colleagues at other institutions and representatives from various manufacturers.
There are two important advantages of the PhenoMaster system; Stellar implantable telemetry integration to
obtain blood pressure and other biopotentials, and the ability for shared use of one system between mice and
rats, with movable and integrated components. The Stellar telemetry has several advantages over competing
telemetry equipment as it allows an unlimited number of animals to be monitored at a given time without having
to place a receiver under each cage. The requested instrumentation will provide crucial support to our major and
minor user projects, and importantly will aid the development of new research projects within our larger research
community. The research projects supported by the requested equipment provide essential intellectual
underpinnings for understanding of many important chronic diseases and provide a key step in translating
knowledge into better and more efficient health care.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9939820
- **Project number:** 1S10OD026980-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV HERSHEY MED CTR
- **Principal Investigator:** Scot R Kimball
- **Activity code:** S10 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $464,064
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-08-20 → 2022-02-19

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9939820

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9939820, Metabolic Phenotyping System (1S10OD026980-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9939820. Licensed CC0.

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