What facilities we have:
We have a fully equipped metabolic kitchen that allows us to prepare and standardize meals and study foods for research participants, as well as a suite of consultation rooms where researchers can meet participants for accurate and reliable dietary data collection. The MRU is fully-equipped with 4 clinical rooms designed for phlebotomy (taking blood) and a range of facilities for conducting physiological, body composition and behavioural measurements. This includes measuring blood pressure, arterial stiffness, endothelial function, heart rate variability, breath hydrogen testing, indirect calorimetry, body composition (bioelectrical impedance analysis, BODPOD whole-body densitometry), appetite, cognitive function and more.
What we can do:
Our MRU has the capacity to conduct a wide range of nutrition research studies, including acute postprandial metabolic studies, chronic dietary interventions, and observational studies. MRU laboratory space is available for processing and storage of blood, saliva, urine and stool samples. Adjoining laboratories have the facilities to analyse biomarkers and nutrient metabolism by a variety of methods including HPLC, GC, LC-MS and GC-MS. The MRU is managed by a paramedic and serves PhD students, postdoctoral researchers and academic staff in running nutrition studies, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate taught students undertaking practical work and student projects.
Where we are:
The MRU is located within the Department of Nutritional Sciences, on the 4th floor of the Franklin-Wilkins building. To find it, turn left out of the lifts, walk down the corridor, and call on the telephone at the door to corridor A, which is the second corridor on the left.
Who to contact:
For enquiries about using the MRU for nutrition studies, please contact the academic lead for the MRU, Professor Wendy Hall at wendy.hall@kcl.ac.uk.
If you are a study participant please contact the lead researcher, using the details on your participant information sheet.