Center for Bioenergetics

About the Center

The Center for Bioenergetics supports multidisciplinary studies of metabolism in health and disease. Our studies span several disease areas from vascular disease and obesity-linked diabetes to heart failure and cancer. The investigators in the Center have been unraveling detailed molecular mechanisms underlying complex diseases using cutting-edge technologies and methodologies, and using this information to guide strategies for prevention, reversal and management of disease through genetic, laboratory, pre-clinical and clinical studies.

Our mission is to translate mechanistic knowledge of metabolic function and its dysregulation in diseases to improved treatments for patients.

Our specific research areas are: 

• Energy transfer and metabolism
• Women’s heart health
• Radiochemistry and PET imaging
• Atherosclerosis and Lipoprotein Research
• Lipid Metabolism in Cardiovascular Disease
• Clinical & Translational Research Program

The Clinical Translational Program manages investigator-initiated and industry-sponsored clinical studies and trials for the Center for Bioenergetics. The goal of this program is to facilitate validation of findings from preclinical systems in humans and moving exciting discoveries towards approved treatments. The program oversees IRB protocols, patient recruitment and consenting, de-identification and PHI protection, sample/data collection and data processing. The program has a special interest in treatments to improve cardiovascular and metabolic health.

Dr. Hamilton is the Director of Center for Bioenergetics at Houston Methodist Research Institute and a consulting faculty physician in the Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes of the Department of Medicine at Houston Methodist Hospital. His academic appointment is Professor of Clinical Medicine at WCM and HM IAM. Dr. Hamilton’s early education at the University of Washington was in cellular and molecular biology where he graduated with honors. He then attended St. Louis University Medical School and completed residency and post-doctoral fellowship training in internal medicine and endocrinology at Baylor College of Medicine. His early to mid-professional career activities combined clinical practice and graduate medical education.

The transition to translational research for Dr. Hamilton began in 2002 when he participated in collaborations in clinical trials and orthotopic human islet transplantation research. In 2007 his research focus narrowed to translational investigations related to substrate oxidation and energy transfer in failing organ systems such as the human heart and neoplastic conditions. In 2013 in collaboration with Anisha Gupte, Ph.D. he established a Bioenergetics Research initiative at Houston Methodist Research Institute with the objective of identifying mechanisms of altered energy transduction in disease states, especially those involving high energy tissues. The initiative has now evolved into the Center for Bioenergetics, which supports several faculty and their research groups studying various aspects of energy transfer and metabolism.

Director

Dale J. Hamilton, MD

Elaine and Marvy A. Finger Distinguished Chair for Translational Research in Metabolic Disorders & Professor of Clinical Medicine | Academic Institute | Director, Center for Bioenergetics | Houston Methodist | Weill Cornell Medical College