The $5 million state-of-the-art human metabolic chamber– the only one of its kind in the southern hemisphere– has officially opened at the Melbourne campus of Australian Catholic University (ACU).
The new facility within ACU’s health precinct reinforces the University’s position at the forefront of global research into metabolic health, exercise, and diet.
Designed and built by the world-leading team from Maastricht Instruments in the Netherlands, it will revolutionize metabolic disorders research, ranging from obesity and type 2 diabetes to diseases underpinned by rare metabolic conditions.
The two-room chamber allows researchers to perform resting metabolic rate measurements, take blood and other tissue samples, and monitor a person overnight or over several days to study their metabolism, sleep patterns, and other health-related outcomes.
At the official opening, ACU Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Zlatko Skrbis said the facility’s sophisticated technology will strengthen the University’s research capacity and unlock new avenues of research for academic, industry and government partners to become a catalyst for innovation and discovery.
“We celebrate not only the physical infrastructure of ACU’s health precinct but also the intellectual capital it represents— the brilliant minds, the relentless curiosity, and the unwavering dedication to advancing knowledge for the betterment of society within a thriving ecosystem of partners,” Professor Skrbis said.
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Source: ACU