Services

The Diabetes & Obesity Research Institute offers a variety of clinical and metabolic services for both USC DORI investigators and external diabetes and obesity researchers.

DORI Testing Cores

DORI Clinical Services Core

The objective of the DORI Clinical Services Core is to provide expert, convenient, and affordable obesity- and diabetes- related clinical services to investigators at the USC Diabetes & Obesity Research Institute (DORI) and external diabetes and obesity researchers.

The Clinical Services Core is supported by a full-time registered nurse and several part-time phlebotomists, and a full-time administrator to facilitate scheduling and billing. The clinical service core offers outpatient beds, equipment for body weight and body fat measurements, including DEXA, fasting blood draws, oral glucose tolerance testing, a blood processing room, and private rooms for behavioral testing and administration of questionnaires. 

DORI Clinical Services Management

Center Manager – Christina Ayala, MPH
Phone: 323-442-2500
Email: trujillc@usc.edu

Faculty Director – Katie Page, MD
Phone: 323-442-2804
Email: kpage@usc.edu

DORI Metabolic Assay Core

The objective of the Metabolic Assay Core (MAC) is to provide assay services to investigators of the USC Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute (DORI), and non-USC DORI investigators. The MAC provides the measurement of hormones, cytokines, lipids and carbohydrates in both human and animal biologic fluids. Any other assays in mind, please let us know to discuss options.

Investigators will pay a fee-for-service that covers the cost of reagents, supplies, a percentage of personnel salary, and instrument usage. The measurement of assays will utilize modern instrumentation run by experienced assay technician(s) in a reliable, quality-controlled environment. Equipment used to perform assays includes a Bio Tek plate reader, YSI 2900D Biochemistry Analyzer, MagPix instrument using Luminex xMAP technology, and NanoDrop 2000.

DORI Assay Core Management

Lab Manager – Lilit Baronikian, BS
Phone: 323-865-3379 or 818-642-4838
Email: yegiyant@med.usc.edu

Administrator – Christina Ayala, MPH
Phone: 323-442-2500
Email: trujillc@usc.edu

Faculty Director – Dr. Joyce Richey, PhD
Phone: 323-442-1939
Email: jrichey@usc.edu

Animal Nutrition and Metabolic Core

The Nutrition and Metabolic Core offers access to state-of-the-art and high-quality phenotyping services for basic science studies in rodents that are focused on research in nutrition, cancer, obesity, diabetes, and metabolism.

Services

Body Composition (Echo-MRI NMR)  •  Indirect calorimetry    Locomotor activity  •   Food intake  •  Sample collection   •  Core body temperature  •  Consultation and training   •  Glucose and insulin tolerance 

Please contact Core for fee structure

Contact

Director—Anna Kamitakahara, PhD
Assistant Professor of Research, Keck School of Medicine of USC
Email: akamitakahara@chla.usc.edu

For questions & inquiries
cores@chla.usc.edu

Location – 4661 Sunset Blvd., MS 135
The Saban Research Institute
Los Angeles, CA 90027
United States

Annual DORI Symposium

Learn from the top in diabetes research at our 2020 DORI Symposium, featuring doctors, scientists and researchers from top universities and research institutes across the globe.