The objective of LACRE is to study the effects of programmed physical exercise (physical training) on patients with different rheumatological pathologies. In addition to this research, the laboratory also serves a didactic purpose, as the team gives classes on the locomotor apparatus and physical activity, and also trains residents and graduate students to prescribe physical conditioning to rheumatology patients.
The laboratory has weight training equipment, treadmills and devices for conducting ergospirometric and physical function tests. The laboratory also has accelerometers and frequencimeters that permit assessment of the level of physical activity in patients. Blood collection is done in partnership with the Central Laboratory. LACRE also has a room dedicated especially to invasive procedures (blood collection and muscle biopsy), which allow investigation of the mechanisms associated with acute and chronic adaptations to exercise. While the central focus of LACRE is the study of rheumatological diseases, the laboratory also contributes to projects in other disciplines, such as Neurology.
A variety of projects are developed in the laboratory, not only with patients from Rheumatology, but also from associated clinics, such as Bariatric Surgery, Gastroenterology, Endocrinology, Pediatrics, Urology, Nephrology and Cardiology.
LACRE hosts the main activities of the Applied Physiology & Nutrition Group, whose mission is to conduct comprehensive clinical or experimental studies with the aim of discovering the role of physical activity and nutrition in sports, aging, obesity and in chronic illnesses. The group works transdisciplinarily, consisting of Scientific Initiation, master’s, doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers, with a wide variety of basic backgrounds, including Physical Education, Sports, Nutrition, Physical Therapy, Medicine, Biology, Pharmacy and Mathematics. The research laboratories occupied by the group are located at the Medical School (LIM-17), in the Hospital das Clínicas (LACRE) and the USP School of Physical Education and Sports. Together these laboratories offer ample possibility for the physiological evaluation and testing of patients and athletes, as well as prescribing exercise programs. Molecular analyses of gene and protein expression, enzymatic assays, high performance liquid chromatography, histology and cytology are techniques performed by the group, which also has a “fish pole” scale, developed in partnership with the USP Polytechnical School, and that allows the measurement of isolated fibers, an essential step in cellular physiology investigations. The group also collaborates actively with several researchers from the program and others from the Institution.