Areas of Interest
Individuals with higher cardiorespiratory fitness experience decreased rates of obesity and cardiometabolic disease and show a significantly lower age-adjusted and disease-adjusted mortality. Although there is a significant genetic component to cardiorespiratory fitness, it is not well known how these inherited factors contribute to metabolic signatures of enhanced cardiorespiratory fitness, such as increased mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation and metabolic flexibility. Using a rat model of high and low cardiorespiratory fitness, I am studying how mitochondrial character contributes to the health and longevity phenotype observed in enhanced cardiorespiratory fitness.