The NRI houses research cores that offer a wide range of services to researchers. Cores offer shared resources, including cutting-edge technologies, high-end instrumentation, technical support, and education. Our cores are committed to enhancing and expanding the collaborative capabilities of research at our institute, on the North Carolina Research Campus, and throughout the research community.

Clinical Research Core

The Clinical Research Core (CRC) provides human nutrition research investigators with multi-disciplinary services and equipment in one location. The core is complete with examination rooms and equipment, phlebotomy and processing areas, pharmacy, and furnished consultation rooms. For nutrition intervention studies, the CRC offers a metabolic kitchen specifically designed to support nutrition research.

State-of-the-Art Resources and Support

• Human metabolism and body composition assessments
• Clinical laboratory and support services
• Preparation and delivery of precisely designed meals for study participants

Metabolomics Core

The Metabolomics Core provides cutting edge nutritional metabolomics services, biochemistry methods, and molecular biology techniques for nutrition research.

The goals of our core are to encourage and facilitate the use of biomarkers for nutritional epidemiological and intervention studies, to provide access to state-of-the-art techniques and equipment to bench scientists, and to provide cost-effective assays for investigators without lab facilities. The core also provides training for students and postdoctoral fellows. 

Precision Nutrition Core

The Precision Nutrition Core is an all-encompassing support system for investigators conducting research on nutrigenetic and microbiomic aspects of obesity and obesity-related diseases.

The goal for some obesity research is to identify genetic and environmental factors and interactions that affect an individual’s susceptibility and to identify high-utility targets for prevention and treatment. In the long run, investigators should be able to individualize or personalize diet and health recommendations based on knowledge gained from obesity research. Thus, there is a great need for studies with strong translational potential. Additionally, the Microbiome sub-core provides consultation (experimental design, grant writing assistance, data interpretation and publication help) on nutrition-focused microbiome studies.