# Small Animal Metabolic Phenotyping Facility

> **NIH NIH S10** · UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON · 2020 · $685,385

## Abstract

Project Summary
We are requesting funds to purchase a cluster of instruments from the TSE PhenoMaster
indirect calorimetry system that controls, acquires, and analyzes metabolic parameters and
laboratory environmental conditions. The system is equipped with special gas sensors to
measure hydrogen (H2), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), volatile organic compounds, and the relative
abundance of 13CO2/12CO2. It includes modules to accommodate mouse- or rat-sized cages with
HEPA-filtered and autoclavable parts for germ-free/gnotobiotic applications in an environmental
chamber that controls illumination, humidity, and temperature. The system includes 4 treadmills
to assess exercise capacity as well as a module to separate, quantify, and freeze feces and
urine for further analyses. These instruments will prompt the formation of the Small Animal
Metabolic Phenotyping Facility (SAMPF) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to provide
access to a range of modalities for metabolic phenotyping. Importantly, the SAMPF has been
assigned space in a centrally located vivarium with an instrument room, a diet-preparation room,
a cage-washing room, a surgery suite, and 7 individual animal housing rooms to enable users
from anywhere on and off the UW campus to use the instruments. We have observed increased
demand for metabolic phenotyping of genetically engineered mice and rats with diverse
experimental needs, which cannot be satisfied by the mouse indirect calorimetry systems
currently available on campus. In response to this need, we have partnered with the Morgridge
Institute for Research, UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, Department of
Nutritional Sciences, Department of Biochemistry, and the Office of the Vice Chancellor for
Research and Graduate Education and identified matching financial support for this application.
Committed funds will support the purchase of complementing instruments, dedicated SAMPF
personnel, and an extended 5-year service contract. This cluster of instruments will be the first
of its kind on the UW-Madison campus and will fill a critical gap in available technologies to UW
investigators. It will immediately serve more than twenty research laboratories, most of which
are currently funded by the NIH, with wide-ranging expertise from mitochondria biology and
aging to exocytosis and neurological diseases. Overall, success of this application will greatly
strengthen current NIH-funded projects and allow our users to explore new lines of research not
approachable previously in the absence of this new platform. It will be a keystone addition to the
research capabilities on our campus and in our nation, and it will synergistically enhance NIH-
funded research to further improve the health for populations in the US and beyond.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9940515
- **Project number:** 1S10OD028739-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
- **Principal Investigator:** Chi- Liang Eric Yen
- **Activity code:** S10 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $685,385
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-07-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9940515

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9940515, Small Animal Metabolic Phenotyping Facility (1S10OD028739-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9940515. Licensed CC0.

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