Since its creation, the CRNH has been functionally organized into two platforms: a clinical research platform, located in the CENS-ELI 2D building, which enables investigations on healthy volunteers and patients, and an analytical mass spectrometry platform in the CBPS 3D building at the Lyon Sud Hospital Center, located in Oullins/Pierre Bénite.
Research Center in Human Nutrition - Rhône-Alpes
CRNH-RA Platform
The CRNH-RA platform aims to provide local, national, and international academic communities, as well as the socio-economic stakeholders, with advanced infrastructure specialized in clinical exploration in human nutrition.
The platform’s expertise is particularly focused on:
- The effects of diet during the postprandial phase
- Mechanisms of nutritional adaptation, including metabolic stress and environmental influences
- Modulating the nutritional quality of food
- The role of the intestinal microbiota in host metabolism
- The impact of bariatric surgery on metabolic health
- Assessing insulin sensitivity (clamp technique) and energy expenditure
- Food behavior and sensory analysis
For collaboration opportunities on research projects, please visit our contact page
The services offered by CRNH-RA platform are:
- Design and development of research protocols
- Submission of protocols to regulatory bodies (ethics committee, national agency for the safety of medicines and health products, national commission for information technology and civil liberties)
- Clinical trial setup and management
- Volunteer recruitment
- Implementation of study protocols, including welcoming volunteers for clinical investigations
- Coordination of medical and paramedical procedures
- Protocol monitoring and audit support
- Data analysis and interpretation
- Preparation of study reports and dissemination of results (publications, presentations, patents, etc.)
* except first in man trials
Main clinical investigations conducted:
- Body composition assessment using impedance measurement, DEXA, MRI, or labeled water
- Energy metabolism measurement via indirect calorimetry (doubly labeled water)
- Assessing insulin sensitivity using hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamps or adipose and muscle tissue biopsies
- Bioavailability and metabolic fate assessment of foods and substrates through infusion/ingestion of stable isotopic tracers
- Nutritional challenges, including test meals and postprandial metabolism studies
- Designing standardized buffet for controlled dietary interventions
- Assessment of carbohydrate, lipid, and lipoprotein metabolism
- Hormonal profile analysis
- Evaluation of Inflammatory and oxidative stress markers
- Gut microbiota metabolite analysis, including endotoxemia (LPS), SCFAs, and exhaled gases
- Biological sample collection, including blood, plasma, serum, urine, feces, adipose tissue, muscle tissue, saliva, and exhaled gases
Clinical exploration facility within the CENS ELI building:
(funded by the IRN-CENS program of AURA region and Université Claude Bernard Lyon1)
The facility includes rooms dedicated to clinical exploration, each equipped with specific equipment for nutrition research:
- 2-day test rooms
- 3 bedrooms accommodation with bathroom
- 3 examination cubicles
- 1 test room with 4 blood sampling chairs
- 1 sampling room with 1 chair
- 2 laboratories
- 1 test box (EEG et Bodpod)
- 1 experimental restaurant and kitchen
- 1 fitness room
- 1 recording studio
A specialized research team: The team consists of trained medical and paramedical staff in the fields of nutrition and clinical research, including doctors, clinical research nurses, dietitians, and clinical research associates.
Authorization for a research site:
Arrêté n°2019-17-0582 : Autorisation de lieu de recherches impliquant la personne humaine SANS première administration à l’homme d’un médicament, valable jusqu’au 07/10/2026.
If you have any questions, please contact the scientific coordinator.
Metanutribiota Platform
The Metanutribiota platform is a metabolomics analysis facility focused on characterizing biological molecules derived from or associated with nutrition and the gut microbiota. The platform combines the technical expertise and resources necessary to conduct metabolomics projects, including metabolite extraction from biological matrices, data production, and comprehensive analysis reporting.
The platform’s expertise is rooted in performing isotopic enrichment measurements on human, animal, or cell culture samples using stable isotopes. Additionally, the platform quantifies a variety of metabolites, including lipids, carbohydrates, amino acids, and specific metabolites produced by the gut microbiota, such as short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs).
The analytical themes of the analysis center are:
- Bioavailability and metabolic fate assessment of foods and substrates through infusion/ingestion of stable isotopic tracers
- Assessment of lipids, carbohydrates, amino acids and gut microbiota metabolites
- Evaluation of body composition and total energy expenditure (doubly marked water)
- Assessing insulin sensitivity using clamps
- Measuring exhaled gas using volatolomics
- Performing targeted and multi-targeted metabolomics
If you have any questions, please contact the person(s) in charge of the analysis center
Equipments
Isotope mass spectrometer
Isotope mass spectrometer with several configurations available:
- GC-Combustion & GC-pyrolysis
- Thermal Conversion Elemental Analysis
- Breath tests
Organic mass spectrometer
Organic mass spectrometer coupled to a gas chromatograph with a multimode injection system including solid-phase microextraction (SPME, Gerstel & CTC Analytics).
3 ionisation modes available:
- Ionisation by electronic impact
- Positive chemical ionisation
- Negative chemical ionisation
TD-GC/MS
New equipment: Organic mass spectrometer coupled to a gas chromatograph, featuring a thermodesorption interface with a multimode injection system including solid-phase microextraction.
LC-MS/MS
ACQUITY UPLC PREMIER / Xevo TQ-XS System (Waters): A UPLC system coupled with a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. This system enables the development of targeted “in-house” analytical methods and is compatible with Biocrates’ multi-targeted metabolomics and lipidomics kits.
Analyses that can be carried out
Food bioavailability and metabolic fluxes
2H- or 13C labelled carbohydrates, lipids and amino acids:
Carbohydrates (plasma)
Lipids (plasma, stool, tissue, cellular medium)
Amino acids (plasma)
Instestinal microbiota metabolites
Short-chain fatty acids: 13C and concentrations (plasma, stool, cell medium)
Volatile organic compounds (expired gases)
Insulin sensitivity
Hyperinsulin euglycemic clamp with [6,6-2H2] glucose
Substrate oxidation
12CO2 breath test (13C labelled molecules)
2H urinary (2H labelled molecules)
Body composition
Labelled 2H2O or H218O water: 2H or 18O (urine, saliva or plasma)
Total energy expenditure
Doubly-Labelled 2H2 18O: 2H or 18O (urine, saliva or plasma)