MUMC+

In 2008, the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences and the academic hospital Maastricht (azM) merged into the eight academic medical centre of the Netherlands: Maastricht University Medical Centre (MUMC+). MUMC+ has three primary tasks: patient care, education & training, and research.

The hospital provides access to various research facilities and methods that are being used for (clinical) research. Some of these research facilities and methods are routinely applied by our research group, including:  Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA), Computed Tomography (CT),  Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS), diagnostic and Contrast-Enhanced UltraSound (US and CEUS), Plaster casting.

NUTRIM

Our research group is embedded within the school of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism (NUTRIM). NUTRIM aims to contribute to health maintenance and personalised medicine by unraveling lifestyle and disease-induced derangements in metabolism and by developing targeted nutritional, exercise and drug interventions. For a short (< 3 min) introduction to NUTRIM:

NUTRIM has three research divisions and the work performed in our group fits best in division III, Respiratory & Age-related Health. For a short (< 3 min) introduction of the work in our research division III:

SIRC

The Stable Isotope Research Centre (SIRC) is a service unit of the MUMC+ providing analytical facilities and expertise enabling basic and clinical researchers to incorporate stable isotope tracer methodologies in their basic and clinical science studies. The SIRC is equipped with 3 Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) and 2 Gas Chromatography-Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry (GC-IRMS) units.

Stable isotope tracers can be ingested orally and/or infused intravenously. The isotope tracers can be followed throughout the body and isotopes can be detected in expired breath, saliva, urine, plasma, and various other tissues such as skeletal muscle, connective tissue, bone etc. The use of stable isotopes allows us to acquire information on the dynamics of substrate metabolism and makes it possible to calculate substrate fluxes through synthesis, degradation, and oxidation pathways on a whole-body and/or a tissue-specific level.

MRUM and CRU

The Metabolic Research Unit Maastricht (MRUM) and the Clinical Research Unit (CRU are state-of-the-art research facilities that include multi-purpose examination rooms, climate controlled respiration chambers, dietary intervention rooms, with dedicated equipment for measuring exercise performance, body composition, and substrate metabolism in vivo in humans.

In addition, research facilities at the departments of Human Biology and Nutrition and Movement Sciences provide equipment to apply stable isotope tracer methodology, collect blood and tissue samples, and to perform both resistance as well as endurance-type exercise.

The combination of research facilities makes it possible to study the acute effects of exercise and/or nutrition on a whole-body and muscle tissue level and to assess the impact of more prolonged exercise and/or nutritional interventions on performance and health in diverse populations, from athletes to patients.

Scannexus

Scannexus is an Ultra-High-Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) centre that houses three Siemens MRI scanners: a 3T Magnetom Prisma Fit scanner, a 7T Magnetom scanner and a 9.4T Magnetom scanner. We can apply these scanners to determine body composition as well as muscle volume and lipid contents on a whole-body, limb, and/or organ level.

At present, we are working with the people at Scannexus to set up the measurement of 13C MR spectroscopy to allow assessment of muscle, liver, and/or brain glycogen contents.