About Us

The laboratories for the Division of Exercise Physiology are largely located at the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center. The facilities for the Division of Exercise Physiology in the School of Medicine include a newly renovated and fully equipped Human Performance Laboratory, Muscle Biochemistry Laboratory, and Muscle Biology and Aging Laboratory. The Robert C. Byrd Health Science Center provides state-of-the-art health care, education and research. A PET center, the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center, and the newly expanded National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health center, provide additional resources who may want to work with adjunct graduate faculty who are affiliated with the Ph.D. program in Exercise Physiology but have their primary appointments within other departments in the School of Medicine or at the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.

Graduate research and training are carried out in the laboratories of the Program's faculty, which are well equipped for state-of-the-art studies in skeletal muscle, cardiovascular system and the nervous system. Some of the methods currently in use include: enzyme and lipid analyses, spectroscopy, immunocytochemistry, western blotting, electrophoresis, RT-PCR, in situ and in vitro electrophysiological analyses of motor systems, tissue culture, gene sequencing, animal models, video-microscopy, confocal and electron microscopy, immunocytochemistry and in situ hybridization, computer-based data acquisition, image analysis and 3-D reconstruction, psychophysical and behavioral analyses, and measures of human performance including whole muscle, single fiber and cardiovascular responses to whole body and single limb exercise.

Core facilities available for all researchers include recombinant DNA, light, electron and confocal microscopy and computer assisted image analysis. Central animal care, electronics and machine shops are also maintained. The Health Sciences Center Library holds all major periodicals and bound volumes in neuroscience and the biomedical sciences.