Investigating Gut Hormone in Human Health and Disease (GutHHD)

The GutHHD clinical study is part of the Gribble Reimann clinical research group in the Institute of Metabolic Science.

The research group specialises in gut hormone research and performs a large number of laboratory studies alongside these clinical studies.

Studies currently open to recruitment

What are gut hormones?

The gut contains over 20 different hormones.  Actions of gut hormones range from controlling your appetite, regulating your blood sugar levels and managing the speed at which food travels through the gut.

GLP-1, the hormone which weight management injections such as Ozempic and Wegovy are based upon, is the most studied gut hormone to date.

In our studies we measure not only GLP-1, but a wide array of gut hormones using specialised laboratory techniques, in particular those which control gut movements.

How do we study gut hormones?

We recruit both healthy volunteers and volunteers with particular conditions to attend our research unit and provide blood samples for gut hormone measurements.

Depending on the study, we look at gut hormone levels in response to a meal, or how gut hormone levels may differ depending on your bowel habit.

We assess how these gut hormone levels differ in different conditions compared to healthy volunteers and how they vary with different gut symptoms.

Using a combination of laboratory techniques we measure a wide array of gut hormones in particular those controlling gut movements.