MMPC Micro- and Macrovascular Phenotyping Core

The Nephrology, Macrovascular and Microvascular Core is part of the NIH-funded MMPC at the University of Washington. The MMPC is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIDDK and NHLBI) as a resource to provide services to the community of scientists who use mice to study diabetes, obesity, diabetic complications and other metabolic diseases.

The Seattle MMPC is one of six Centers housed at outstanding academic institutions, staffed by experts in state-of-the-art technology.   Researchers can ship mice and/or tissues to one of the Centers and obtain, on a fee-for-service basis, a range of complex exams used to characterize mouse metabolism, blood composition including hormones, energy balance and physical activity, eating and exercise, insulin resistance, organ function, metabolic fluxes and morphology, physiology, histology and measures of diabetic complications in heart, kidney, vasculature, eye, etc.  Many tests are done in living animals and are designed to elucidate subtle to complex traits that would define models of metabolic disease.

There are two funding programs in which University of Washington investigators may participate.  The first is a Pilot & Feasibility Program which has a June 1 application deadline and awards $60,000 per year with goals of developing new technologies or miniaturization of existing technologies for mice.  The second of these is the MICROMouse program for which there are three deadlines per year with awards of up to $75,000 for projects directed toward novel questions and breaking science. 

There are two state-of-the art classes offered through the MMPC program.  Isotope Tracers in Metabolic Research focuses on the theory and practice of isotopic tracers for the study of metabolism in humans and animals using mass spectrometry and NMR.   Glucose Clamping the Conscious Mouse focuses on the methods, protocols and quantitative tools necessary to perform glucose clamps in the conscious mouse.

The Seattle MMPC is composed of three Cores

• The Diabetes and Energy Balance Core provides precise, non-invasive, quantitative assessment of energy homeostasis, assessments of metabolic parameters associated with type 2 diabetes such as glucose and insulin tolerance tests, quantification of insulitis and other inflammatory parameters in tissues, quantification of circulating and/or tissues factors including cytokines, hormones, lipids/lipoproteins and carbohydrates, and performs longitudinal studies in mice testing age, diet or special drug treatments. 
• The Cardiovascular Core provides precise evaluations of heart function including myocardial infarction injury modeling, quantification of circulating and/or tissue factors including growth factors, chemokines and other proteins modulating the cardiovascular system especially for mouse models of diabetes, blood pressure and non-invasive evaluation of heart function using ultrasound technology.  This core also performs bone marrow transplantation studies and longitudinal projects required to study the heart or vascular system. 
• The Nephrology, Macrovascular and Microvascular Core provides services related to detailed and quantitative morphology of a variety of tissues including heart, aorta, carotid and other arteries, kidney, adipose, liver, pancreas, retina, and skeletal muscle.  Tissue embedding, sectioning (frozen and paraffin-embedded), immunocytochemistry, histology, electron microscopy and in situ hybridization are carried out in this core. 

The MMPC is committed to improving access to existing tests, and to developing new technologies for this purpose.

For further information, please contact:

Renee C. LeBoeuf, Director, Seattle MMPC, leboeuf@u.washington.edu
Michael Schwartz, Co-Director, Seattle MMPC, mschwart@u.washington.edu
Donna Geronimo, Project Administrator, Seattle MMPC, geronimo@u.washington.edu

Nephrology, Macrovascular and Microvascular Core
Charles Alpers, Director, calp@u.washington.edu
Kevin O’Brien, Co-Director, cardiac@u.washington.edu