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  6. Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Gastroenterology (DEG) Core

Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Gastroenterology (DEG) Core

Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Gastroenterology (DEG) Core is directed by Thomas Ziegler, MD.

The DEG Core consists of three linked Sub-Cores, each providing unique and complementary expertise and resources. These are the:

  • Diabetes Sub-Core: Located at Emory's Clinical Research Unit, under the direction of DEG co-Director Tanicia Daley, MD. Research oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT) and 7-day continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) are offered to assess various glucose tolerance endpoints, including insulin sensitivity, secretion, and clearance. Additionally, samples from individuals with CF are provided to our CF Biorepository (CF-BR) for future research studies. All data collected during these annual visits is incorporated into the Georgia CF Data Warehouse, which is managed by the CRI Core.
  • Endocrine Sub-Core: Located in the Bionutrition and Body Composition Unit of the Emory Clinical Research Center, under the direction of Drs. Tanicia Daley, MD and Vin Tangpricha, MD, PhD. The Endocrine Sub-Core provides pQCT (at Augusta University Ryan Harris, PhD and University of Georgia Joseph Kindler, PhD) and DXA assessment of CF bone health, specialized diabetes research methodologies, such as the hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp, hyperglycemic clamp, and frequently-sampled intravenous glucose tolerance tests and glucose potentiated arginine stimulation tests, assessment of bone-relevant biomarkers, including 25-hydroxyvitamin D, C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX-I; marker of bone resorption), and N-terminal propeptide of type I procollagen (PINP; marker of bone formation), and assessment of hypogonadism and adrenal function.
  • GI/Liver Sub-Core: Located Children's Healthcare of Atlanta on Emory campus, under the leadership of Thomas Ziegler, MD, and assisted by DEG gastroenterologist Consultants Drs. Saul Karpen MD, PhD and AJ Freeman, MD.  The GI/Liver sub-core provides use of FibroScan®: (available at Children’s and within Dr. Harris’s laboratory at Augusta) to assess hepatic stiffness and steatosis, advanced MRI services, microbiome and metagenomics analysis, assessment of gut permeability/barrier function through non-invasive sugar marker tests (lactulose/mannitol permeability) and related serum markers (e.g., endotoxin), and nutrient absorption studies.

The DEG offers a number of services, please contact Thomas Ziegler, MD for more details.