I. Mark Olfert, Ph.D.
	Assistant Professor of Exercise Physiology Graduate Training: Loma Linda University Fellowship: University of California, San Diego
	Office: Room 3130G North HSC Lab: Room 3110 PO Box 9105 Morgantown, WV 26506	Email:molfert@hsc.wvu.edu Phone: 304-293-7597 Fax: 304-293-5513

Research Interests:

My laboratory conducts research in cardiopulmonary and skeletal muscle physiology as it pertains to health and disease. My research covers two broad areas, 1) pulmonary gas exchange and ventilation under conditions of stress (e.g. disease, exercise, high altitude) and 2) factors limiting O2 transport and exercise capacity, particularly in context of the formation and/or remodeling of skeletal muscle microvessels (i.e. angiogenesis) in chronic diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic heart failure (CHF), renal failure, and/or diabetes.

The current major focus in my laboratory is to better understand the molecular regulation of skeletal muscle angiogenesis. One factor of particular interest is vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which is a critical factor for vessel formation during growth and development, but is also found to be important throughout life (e.g. in response to wound healing, tumor progression, and exercise-induced skeletal muscle angiogenesis). Recent discoveries in my laboratory have also expanded our interest in the role of negative angiogenic regulators and extracellular matrix proteins, such as thrombospondin (TSP) and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), may play in pathophysiology of cardiac and skeletal muscle co-morbidities associated with COPD and other chronic diseases.

Students working in my laboratory can expect to learn and use a multidisciplinary approach in involving cellular and molecular, histochemical, biochemical, and classical physiologic techniques in the study of human and animal (i.e. transgenic) models. These studies take a translational approach to better understand the pathophysiology of cardiac and skeletal muscle dysfunction in association chronic cardiac, respiratory and/or metabolic disease.

Selected Publications:

1.  S.R. Hopkins, T.P. Gavin, N.M. Siafakas, L.J. Haseler, I.M. Olfert, H. Wagner, P.D. Wagner.  Effect of prolonged heavy exercise on pulmonary gas exchange in athletes.  J. Appl. Physiol.  85: 1523-1532, 1998. PMID: 9760350

2.   R.C. Barker, S.R. Hopkins, N. Kellogg, I.M. Olfert, T.D. Brutsaert, T.P. Gavin, P.L. Entin, A.J. Rice, and P.D. Wagner.   Measurement of cardiac output during exercise by open circuit acetylene uptake.  J. Appl. Physiol. 87: 1506-1512, 1999. PMID: 10517785

3.   S.R. Hopkins, R.C. Barker, T.D. Brutsaert, T.P. Gavin, P. Entin, I.M. Olfert, S. Veisel, and P.D. Wagner.  Pulmonary gas exchange during exercise in women: effects of exercise type and work increment. J. Appl. Physiol. 89: 721-730, 2000. PMID: 10926659

4.   I.M. Olfert, E.C. Breen, O. Mathieu-Costello, P.D. Wagner.  Chronic hypoxia attenuates resting and exercise-induced gene expression of VEGF and its receptors, flt-1 and flk-1, in skeletal muscle. J. Appl. Physiol. 90: 1532-1538, 2001. PMID: 11247956

5.   I.M. Olfert, E.C. Breen, O. Mathieu-Costello, P.D. Wagner.  Skeletal muscle capillarity and angiogenic mRNA levels after exercise training in normoxia and chronic hypoxia.  J. Appl. Physiol.  91: 1176-1184, 2001. PMID: 11509513

6.   I.M. Olfert, J. Balouch, R. Tabatabai, A. Knapp, A. Kleinsasser, H. Wagner, P.D. Wagner, S.R. Hopkins.  Does Gender Affect Pulmonary Gas Exchange During Exercise?  J. Physiol. (London) 557(2), 529-541, 2004. PMID: 14990677

7.   I.M. Olfert and G.K. Prisk.  Effect of 60-degree head-down tilt on peripheral gas mixing in the human lung. J. Appl. Physiol., 97: 827-834, 2004.  PMID: 15090487

8.   S.D. Mason, R.A. Howlett, M.J. Kim, I.M. Olfert, M.C. Hogan, W. NcNulty, R.P. Hickey, P.D. Wagner, C.R. Kahn, F.J. Giordano, R.S. Johnson.  Loss of skeletal muscle HIF-1α results in altered exercise endurance.  PLoS Biol. 2(10): e288, 2004. PMID: 15328538

9.   I.M. Olfert and O. Mathieu-Costello. Oxygen consumption during maximal exercise in Fischer 344 x Brown Norway F1 hybrid rats. J. Gerontol. A Biol. Sci. Med. Sci., 59(8): B801-8, 2004. PMID: 15345729

10. P.D. Wagner, I.M. Olfert, K. Tang, E.C. Breen.  Muscle-targeted deletion of VEGF and exercise capacity in mice.  Respir. Physiol. Neurobiol., 151:159-166, 2006. PMID: 16344007

11. A.C. Henderson, D.L. Levin, S.R. Hopkins, I.M. Olfert, R.B. Buxton, G.K. Prisk.  30-degree head down tilt has persisting effects on the distribution of pulmonary blood flow.  J. Appl. Physiol.101:583-589, 2006. PMID: 16601308

12. I.M. Olfert, E.C. Breen, T.P. Gavin, P.D. Wagner.  Temporal thrombospondin-1 mRNA response to skeletal muscle exposed to acute and chronic exercise. Growth Factors J. 24(4): 253-259, 2006. PMID: 17381066

13. J. Balouch, I.M. Olfert, P.D. Wagner, S.R. Hopkins.  The effect of incomplete acetylene washout on cardiac output measurement using open circuit acetylene uptake.  Respir. Physiol.& Neurobiol. 155(2): 177-83, 2007. PMID: 16714151

14. A.M. Jonk, I.P. van den Berg, I.M. Olfert, D.W. Wray, T. Arai, S.R. Hopkins, P.D. Wagner.  Effect of acetazolamide on pulmonary gas exchange during normoxic and hypoxic exercise.  J. Physiol. (London), 579(3); 909-921, 2007. PMID: 17218362

15. Kleinsasser, A., I.M. Olfert, H. Wagner, A. Loeckinger, G.K. Prisk, S.R. Hopkins, P.D. Wagner.  Tidal volume dependency of gas exchange in bronchoconstricted pig lungs.  J. Appl. Physiol., 103: 148-155, 2007.  PMID: 17395763

16. S.D. Mason, H. Rundqvist, I. Papandreou, R. Duh, W.J. McNulty, R.A. Howlett, I.M. Olfert, C.J. Sundberg, N.C. Denko, L. Poellinger, R.S. Johnson.  HIF-1α in endurance training: Suppression of oxidative metabolism.  Am. J. Physiology 293(5):R2059-69, 2007. PMID: 17855495 [

17. L. Cui, Y. Ju, L. Ding, M. Trejo-Morales, I.M. Olfert.  Arteriolar and venular capillary distribution in skeletal muscle of old rats.  J. Gerontol. A Biol. Sci. Med. Sci. 63A (9), 928-935, 2008. PMID: 18840797

18. E.C. Breen, K. Tang, I.M. Olfert, A. Knapp, P.D. Wagner.  Skeletal muscle capillarity during hypoxia: VEGF and its activation. High Alt. Med. & Biol. 9(2): 158-166, 2008. PMID: 18578647

19. S.R. Hopkins, I.M. Olfert, P.D. Wagner.  Point:Counterpoint: Exercised-induced intrapulmonary shunt is imaginary vs. real. J Appl Physiol. 107:993-994, 2009. PMID: 19023012

20. I.M. Olfert, R.A. Howlett, K. Tang, N.D. Dalton, Y. Gu, K.L. Peterson, P.D. Wagner, and E.C. Breen. Muscle-specific VEGF deficiency greatly reduces exercise endurance in mice. J Physiol. 587(8), 1755-1767, 2009. PMID: 19237429

21. M.H. Malek and I.M. Olfert.  Global deletion of thrombospondin-1 increases cardiac and skeletal muscle capillarity and exercise capacity.  Exp. Physiol. 94(6), 749-760, 2009. PMID: 19297388

22. S.R. Hopkins, I.M. Olfert, P.D. Wagner.  Last Word on Point:Counterpoint: Exercised-induced intrapulmonary shunting is imaginary vs. real. J Appl Physiol. 107(3):1002, 2009. PMID: 19713436

23. *M.H. Malek, *I.M. Olfert, F. Esposito.  Effects of detraining on skeletal muscle VEGF response to acute exercise in rats. Exp. Physiol. 95(2):359-68, 2010. PMID: 19880536   *Shared first author.

24. G.K. Prisk, I.M. Olfert, T.J. Arai, P.D. Wagner, S.R. Hopkins.  Rapid infusion of 20 ml/kg saline does not impair resting pulmonary gas exchange in the healthy human lung.  J. Appl. Physiol. 108(1):53-59, 2010. PMID: 19910335

25. I.M. Olfert, R.A. Howlett, P.D. Wagner, E.C. Breen.  Myocyte vascular endothelial growth factor is required for exercise-induced skeletal muscle angiogenesis. Am. J. Physiol., 299(4):R1059-67, 2010. PMID: 20686173

26. Frisbee, JC, Goodwill AG, Butcher J, Olfert IM. Divergence between arterial perfusion and fatigue resistance in skeletal muscle in the metabolic syndrome.  Exp. Physiol. 96(3):369-383, 2011.  PMID:21123363

27. I.M. Olfert and O. Birot.  Importance of anti-angiogenic factors in the regulation of skeletal muscle angiogenesis.  Microcirculation  18(4): 316-330, 2011.

Lab Personnel: Gerald Audet, Ph.D. Student in Exercise Physiology Sara Olenich, M.S. Student in Exercise Physiology Janelle Stricker, Research Specialist
	Gerald Audet; Dr. Mark Olfert; Sara Olenich, Janelle Stricker