Goodyear to present the 2023 UCEM Hunter-Bamman Award Lecture
The UAB Center for Exercise Medicine (UCEM) will host its 2023 Hunter-Bamman Award Lecture on April 14, 2023, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. CT at the UAB Kaul Finley Conference Center. Registration is required to attend.
Laurie J. Goodyear, PhD, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Joslin Diabetes Center will deliver the lecture entitled “Novel Mechanisms for the Benefits of Exercise on Health.” Goodyear’s research is focused on elucidating the molecular mechanisms through which exercise improves health with a major focus on metabolic diseases such as diabetes and obesity.
“I am a scientist dedicated to research that will lead to improved human health,” Goodyear said. “This research is bench to bedside, with animal and cell-based basic research leading to discoveries of novel molecules mediating the benefits of exercise on health, human studies to understand if these novel factors may translate to various types of patients, and research designed to determine the optimal types of exercise needed to gain the most beneficial effects on human health.”
The Hunter-Bamman Award Lecture is designed to honor the work of two pioneers of exercise research at UAB - Gary Hunter, PhD, Professor Emeritus Department of Nutrition Sciences and Marcas Bamman, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology and Founding Director of UCEM.
In 2013, UCEM supported the initial Hunter Award Lecture. The award was named in honor of Dr. Hunter who has been an international leader in exercise adaptation, energy metabolism and body composition research with more than 250 peer-reviewed articles in the area. The Hunter Award Lecture was held as part of the UCEM Distinguished Lecture Series from 2013 to 2020.
In 2021, UCEM renamed the lecture to the Hunter-Bamman Award Lecture to continue honoring Dr. Hunter while also recognizing the accomplishments of Dr. Bamman. Dr. Bamman was instrumental in increasing support and awareness for exercise medicine research both at UAB and across the nation. His research on exercise spans from biological underpinnings to clinical outcomes. He has been fostering and directing research for more than 30 years with funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Veterans Affairs, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Department of Defense. He is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and served on the ACSM Board of Trustees and ACSM Science Integration and Leadership Committee. He also served as Chair of the 2021 ACSM World Congress on the Basic Science of Exercise in Regenerative Medicine.
On the UAB campus, Dr. Bamman was responsible for helping establish the > 6000 sq. ft Exercise Clinical Trials facility, and he was also a key driver in garnering NIH support for the current Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC), a Common Fund supported program designed to elucidate the molecular adaptations responsible for the wide variety of benefits of exercise on health.
"Precision-the genes and beyond" Interdisciplinary Research Symposium Recap
The UAB Center for Exercise Medicine (UCEM), the UAB Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC) and the UAB Center for Engagement in Disability Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (CEDHARS) jointly hosted the "Precision-the genes and beyond" Interdisciplinary Research Symposium on September 15 and 16, 2022 at the Hill Student Center Ballrooms, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama. Partnering with CEDHARS, the National Center on Health, Physical Activity and Disability (NCHPAD) sponsored lunch and photography for the event.
The Symposium had a turnout of 156 participants that comprised scientists, clinicians, students and trainees from various fields. It featured three keynote speakers from external universities, 14 UAB speakers, a trainee poster presentation competition, a flash talk competition and a networking reception. The networking event brought together professionals in exercise medicine, nutrition and obesity, and disability and rehabilitation sciences.
Sessions focused on nutrition, sleep and circadian rhythms, exercise-based therapies to improve disabilities and rehabilitation, therapy identification, adherence and behavior and multi-phase optimization strategy.
Keynote Speakers:
The Symposium’s keynote speakers were Lauren Ptomey, PhD, RD, LD, Associate Professor, Center for Physical Activity & Weight Management, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Kansas Medical Center; Daniel Beavers, PhD, Associate Professor of Statistical Sciences, Wake Forest University; and Rebecca Seguin-Fowler, PhD, RD, LD, CSCS, Associate Director, Healthy Living at the Institute for Advancing Health through Agriculture & Professor of Nutrition, Chief Scientific Officer, Healthy Texas, Texas A&M University.
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Dr. Ptomey
Talk Title - “Weight Management Intervention for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities” -
Dr. Beavers
Talk Title - "Weight Loss and Physical Function in Aging: Study Design and Statistical Considerations" -
Dr. Seguin-Fowler
Talk Title - “Multilevel, Multicomponent Interventions to Advance Health Equity through Community-Engaged Nutrition and Obesity Prevention Research”
UAB Speakers
14 Speakers from various schools within UAB delivered 20-minute talks at the symposium. Scroll through the pictures for their talk titles.
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Dorothy Pekmezi, PhD
Professor, Health Behavior, School of Public Health
“Wearables & mHealth Technologies to Support Rural Populations in Physical Activity” -
Holly Wyatt, MD, PhD
Professor, Nutrition Sciences, School of Health Professions
“Strategies to increase dietary adherence in research and clinical programs” -
Brooks Wingo, PhD
Associate Professor, Occupational Therapy, School of Health Professions
“Using technology to monitor and increase dietary adherence among people with physical disabilities” -
Merry-Lynn McDonald, PhD
Assistant Professor, Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, Heersink School of Medicine
"Genomics of Musculoskeletal Diseases" -
Constanza Cortes, PhD
Assistant Professor, Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology, Heersink School of Medicine
“The Muscle-to-Brain Axis: Neuroprotection on the Treadmill” -
Anna Thalacker-Mercer, PhD
Assistant Professor, Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology, Heersink School of Medicine
“Determinants of skeletal muscle health in aging and disease” -
Daniel Smith Jr., PhD
Assistant Professor, Nutrition Sciences, School of Health Professions
“Assessing response variability in nutrition interventions” -
Karen Gamble, PhD
Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology, Heersink School of Medicine
“To Eat or Not to Eat: When is the Question” -
Courtney M. Peterson, PhD
Associate Professor, Nutrition Sciences, School of Health Professions
“Meal Timing, Circadian Rhythms, and Precision Nutrition” -
Girish Melkani, PhD
Associate Professor, Pathology, Heersink School of Medicine
“You are when you eat: Time-restricted feeding and circadian clock mediated regulation of cardiometabolic disorders” -
Martin Young, PhD
Professor, Cardiovascular Disease, Heersink School of Medicine
“The interplay between cardiac clock genes and nutrition: Insights gained from murine models” -
Tapan Mehta, PhD
Professor, Family & Community Medicine, Heersink School of Medicine
“Developing sustainable cardiometabolic intervention packages in primary care settings: Leveraging optimization trial designs, machine learning and artificial intelligence” -
Drew Sayer, PhD
Assistant Professor, Nutrition Sciences, School of Health Professions
“SMART” Lifestyle Interventions for Improving Health and Wellbeing in People with Obesity” -
Jereme Wilroy, PhD
Assistant Professor, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Heersink School of Medicine
“Protocol and design considerations for a sequential multiple assignment randomized trial (SMART) to increase adherence to home exercise in people with spinal cord injury”
Competitions
Abstract Submission:
All attendees were invited to submit abstracts on basic, clinical, translational, and population science that are broadly related to one or more of the following: exercise medicine, nutrition and obesity, disability and rehabilitation sciences.
Flash talk Competition:
The Symposium featured a flash talk competition, wherein, eight abstracts were selected prior to the symposium for an opportunity to present a 5-minute flash talk to the symposium audience. Abstracts submitted by the participants – with their research’s purpose, methods, results, conclusions, future directions, and acknowledgments – were reviewed by faculty judges prior to the symposium.
Poster Presentation Competition:
The symposium featured a poster presentation competition, highlighting the research of undergraduate, graduate, postdoctoral trainees, and junior faculty. From the 38 participants, faculty judges selected 6 winners, and presented $750 travel award each to the flash talk winners, and $400 travel award each to the poster winners. The winners were:
Flash Talk Winners:
Keri Kemp, PhD (Postdoctoral fellow, UAB Nephrology)
Associations between dietary habits and gut microbiota composition in diverse adolescents
Natalie Davis (Graduate trainee, UAB Roberson lab)
Alzheimer’s disease risk factor BIN1 in parvalbumin interneurons
Samia O’Bryan, PhD (Postdoctoral trainee, UAB CDIB)
Attenuated Thigh Lean Mass Gains in Older Adults in Response to High-Intensity
Poster Winners:
Angad Yadav, PhD (Postdoctoral fellow, UAB CDIB)
Metabolically-derived, post-translational protein modifications as determinants of muscle progenitor cell state and function
Huacong (Wendy) Wen, PhD (Postdoctoral fellow, UAB Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation)
Experiences with COVID-19 pandemic in the spinal cord injury community in Alabama
Kristen Coutinho (Graduate trainee, UAB Cortes Lab)
Skeletal Muscle Overexpression of Transcription Factor E-B (TFEB) Supports Proteomic Changes Involved in Mitochondrial Metabolism During Aging
Congratulations to all the winners and many thanks to all attendees!
Thalacker-Mercer appointed as the Associate Director of UCEM
Anna Thalacker-Mercer, PhD, assistant professor in the UAB Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology has been appointed as the Associate Director of UCEM.
Dr. Thalacker-Mercer has been very active with UAB since her postdoctoral fellowship at UAB in 2007 under the mentorship of Marcas Bamman, PhD, Founding Director of UCEM.
“I’m very excited to have Dr. Thalacker-Mercer take this new leadership role within UCEM,” said Thomas Buford, Director of UCEM. “She is an outstanding scientist with a strong history at UAB and a heart for connecting people in related disciplines. I’m excited to see all the exciting ideas and initiatives she will bring to the center.”
Dr. Thalacker-Mercer received her doctorate degree through the Interdepartmental Nutrition Program in the Department of Nutrition Science (formerly Foods and Nutrition) at Purdue University where she developed a strong background in geriatric nutrition and the mechanisms underlying aging skeletal muscle. She continued her research training as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Nutrition Obesity Research Center, the Center for Aging Translational Research Program, and UCEM. During her postdoctoral training, she focused on the mechanisms underlying (i) impaired skeletal muscle regeneration with age and (ii) the heterogeneity in exercise-induced myofiber hypertrophy. From UAB, Dr. Thalacker-Mercer transitioned to the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University where she established her research program in identifying and understanding variations in nutrient and metabolic determinants of skeletal muscle regeneration and deterioration that occur with advancing age and disease.
Her research program at UAB looks at identifying and understanding nutrient and metabolic determinants of skeletal muscle (SkM) regeneration and atrophy. This objective is achieved by 1) examining nutrient requirements and the metabolic signature of SkM stem/ progenitor cell expansion; 2) characterizing novel metabolic and molecular regulators of cell expansion, differentiation, and myotube formation; and 3) developing optimal nutrition and anti-inflammatory therapies to improve SkM health. To address these, her program utilizes human and mouse, primary skeletal muscle cell cultures and muscle tissue coupled with state-of-the-art imaging and –omics techniques and technologies.
UCEM Fall 2021 Research Retreat
The UAB Center for Exercise Medicine hosted its Fall 2021 Research Retreat on November 4 and 5, 2021 at the Lakeshore Foundation. The two half-day event featured 10-minute presentations of 30 investigators at UAB conducting exercise medicine research.
The retreat was designed to facilitate awareness and new collaborations among investigators across UAB who conduct research broadly related to exercise. More than 80 attendees comprising students, pre-and post-doctoral trainees, faculty and staff joined the sessions virtually. The event showcased seven sessions with interdisciplinary topics that steer exercise medicine research at UAB – Exercise Biology, Behavior Change, Early Career I, Rehabilitation, Pre-Clinical Research, Early Career II and Clinical Research.
Thanks to the speakers, moderators and attendees for an interactive event!
UCEM is particularly thankful to Anna Thalacker-Mercer, PhD for initiating this event, and James Rimmer, PhD & team for the arrangements at the Lakeshore Foundation.
“I really appreciate the willingness of all the presenters to provide quick context for their research programs,” said Thomas Buford, PhD, Director of UCEM.
“The goal really was to start connecting the large number of outstanding scientists doing exercise research on campus. Hopefully this was a first step to continuing to build new relationships and bigger initiatives around Exercise Medicine at UAB.”
UAB Center for Exercise Medicine honors Gary Hunter, PhD and Marcas Bamman, PhD – two pioneers of exercise research at UAB
The UAB Center for Exercise Medicine (UCEM) will host its inaugural Hunter-Bamman Award Lecture on November 8, 2021 from noon to 1.15 p.m. CT virtually. This lecture will be co-sponsored by the UAB Nathan Shock Center.
Sue C. Bodine, PhD, Professor of Medicine and Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center Chair, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine will deliver the lecture on “Regulation of Skeletal Muscle Mass and Function: the critical role of recruitment and loading throughout the lifespan.” Registration is required to attend.
The Hunter-Bamman Award Lecture is designed to honor the work of two pioneers of exercise research at UAB - Gary Hunter, PhD, Professor Emeritus Department of Nutrition Sciences and Marcas Bamman, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology and Founding Director of UCEM.
In 2013, UCEM supported the initial Hunter Award Lecture. The award was named in honor of Dr. Hunter who has been an international leader in exercise adaptation, energy metabolism and body composition research with more than 250 peer-reviewed articles in the area. The Hunter Award Lecture was held as part of the UCEM Distinguished Lecture Series from 2013 to 2020.
In 2021, UCEM is renaming the lecture to the Hunter-Bamman Award Lecture to continue honoring Dr. Hunter while also recognizing the accomplishments of Dr. Bamman. Dr. Bamman was instrumental in increasing support and awareness for exercise medicine research both at UAB and across the nation. His research on exercise spans from biological underpinnings to clinical outcomes. He has been fostering and directing research for more than 25 years with funding from National Institute of Health (NIH), Veteran Affairs, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and Department of Defense. He is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and serves on the ACSM Board of Trustees and ACSM Science Integration and Leadership Committee. He has also served as Chair of the 2021 ACSM World Congress on the Basic Science of Exercise in Regenerative Medicine.
On the UAB campus, Dr. Bamman was responsible for helping establish the > 6000 sq. ft Exercise Clinical Trials facility, and he was also a key driver in garnering NIH support for the current Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC), a Common Fund supported program designed to elucidate the molecular adaptations responsible for the wide variety of benefits of exercise on health.
“With Dr. Bamman’s retirement, I wanted to find a way to honor his accomplishments and contributions to Exercise Medicine research at UAB,” said Thomas Buford, PhD, Director of UCEM.
“I thought this was a great way to do it while continuing to recognize the amazing accomplishments of Dr. Hunter. I know that Drs. Hunter and Bamman have a special relationship and I hope that this will serve as a way to honor them both. We will continue to seek nationally and internationally recognized speakers to deliver the Hunter-Bamman lecture each year.”
Dr. Bodine’s research is focused on the study of the neuromuscular system and its response and adaptation to various stressors, including exercise, microgravity, disuse, denervation and aging. She received her PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles and has held positions in both academia and the biotechnology industry. The current focus of her lab is understanding the mechanisms that regulate skeletal muscle size and function under growth and atrophy conditions.
Buford invited to serve on NIH’s ASG Study Section
Thomas Buford, PhD, Director of the UAB Center for Exercise Medicine and Associate Professor in the UAB Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics, and Palliative Care has been invited to serve as a member of the NIH’s Aging Systems and Geriatrics (ASG) Study Section, Center for Scientific Review. He will serve for a period of four years beginning July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2025.
The ASG study section reviews grant applications that are typically clinical-translational efforts and primarily involve human subjects. Proposed studies may investigate geriatric syndromes and conditions, complex late-life disorders that involve multiple organ systems such as frailty, incontinence, balance, loss of functional capacity, delirium, fatigue, and multimorbidity.
Buford was selected to this role on the basis of his demonstrated competence and achievement in his scientific discipline. This includes the quality of his research accomplishments, publications in scientific journals, and other significant scientific activities, achievements and honors.
In this role, Buford will review grant applications submitted to the NIH, make recommendations on the applications to the appropriate NIH national advisory council or board, and survey the status of research in their fields of science. This is a critical role in ensuring that the NIH funds the highest-quality science.
Congratulations, Dr. Buford!
UCEM Hosted Internationally-Renowned Physiologist for its Distinguished Lecture Series
The UAB Center for Exercise Medicine (UCEM) was honored to host Juleen Zierath, PhD, Professor, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden and University of Copenhagen, Denmark on March 8, 2021 for the virtual UCEM Distinguished Lecture Series. Her presentation entitled “Circadian Control of Systemic Metabolism in Type 2 Diabetes and Impact of Exercise Training” was co-sponsored by the UAB Nutrition and Obesity Research Center (NORC).
Dr. Zierath is an internationally-renowned physiologist who serves as the section head for Integrative Physiology at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. She is also a Member of the Nobel Assembly as well as Member and former Chairman of the Nobel Committee. Dr. Zierath presented to nearly 100 attendees from UAB as well as other institutions across the globe on the importance of exercise and physical activity to the preservation of insulin sensitivity and the prevention/treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes. She also discussed cutting edge science regarding the importance of circadian biology on the interaction of these factors.
“Dr. Zierath is an internationally-recognized expert in exercise and skeletal muscle physiology, and we were honored to have her speak with us,” said Thomas Buford, PhD, Director of UCEM. “There was as much excitement and anticipation for this talk as any I’ve seen during my time in academia. Despite all the challenges of the pandemic, the ability to now learn in real-time from an expert across the globe is an exciting benefit.”
During her talk, she spoke initially about the importance of even light levels of physical activity, e.g. taking breaks from sitting, on regulation of metabolic factors such as blood glucose. She then extensively detailed the impact of exercise training on transcriptomic changes in skeletal muscle and opportunities to advance the science in this area before finishing with recent work indicating the role of exercise timing on changes in a variety metabolic factors with relevance to obesity and diabetes. The latter suggesting that the time of day that one exercises may have an impact on metabolic responses to the exercise.
“Circadian influences on exercise responsiveness is an area ripe for an investigation and could have real impact for the prescription of exercise for metabolic health” Buford said.
After the lecture, Dr. Zierath also spent an hour with interested trainees and junior faculty discussing science and career development.
“We are very grateful to Dr. Zierath for donating her time to us, particularly in spending dedicated time after the lecture giving career advice to trainees and junior faculty,” Buford said. “I also want to thank the UAB NORC for helping to sponsor and publicize the event. This was an outstanding, collaborative opportunity for the UAB community.”
2021 Joint Pilot Grant Request for Applications
The UAB Center for Exercise Medicine (UCEM), UAB Hypertension Research Center (HRC) and the McKnight Brain Institute (MBI) are pleased to announce a joint RFA to fund pilot research that focuses on the intersection of exercise, hypertension and cognition. We anticipate funding projects that expand the scope of the applicant to include research relevant to all three of these specific areas. Only proposals with a clear translational relevance will be considered. Funds should be used to generate key preliminary data to develop publications and contribute to an application for extramural funding. Funding that continues ongoing projects will not be considered. Interdisciplinary, multi-PI projects that link basic, clinical or population investigators and have advanced beyond the initial stages of planning are strongly encouraged to apply. Projects that are responsive to an upcoming or issued NIH RFA or Program Announcement will be considered high priority. Applications from PIs from multiple schools and/or that establish new collaborations are encouraged.
Request for ApplicationsIf funded, the proposed start date of the Joint Pilot Grant will be September 1, 2021. Up to 2 pilot projects with budgets not exceeding a total of $50,000 each will be awarded based on merit of the applications. Awards are not renewable. Awardees will be required to present at one of the annual meetings of either the UCEM, HRC or MBI as well as provide an interim and final report of accomplishments.
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS
Letter of Intent must be submitted electronically in a single PDF to Faith Lang (faithlang@uabmc.edu) by Friday, May 21, 2021 at 5:00pm CT and full proposals are due July 15, 2021. All applications should use the NIH PHS 398 forms for cover page, key personnel, budget, budget justification and NIH Biosketch, along with other support for all key personnel. Applications must use Arial 11-point font with 0.5-inch margins. Faculty salary, travel or publication costs are not to be included. NO indirect costs are awarded. Budgets should not be used to offset faculty salary. Applications that are not formatted as described will not be considered for review.
KEY DATES
May 21, 2021: Deadline to submit Letter of Intent (see RFA below for details)
June 1, 2021: Applicants notified for full proposal submission
July 15, 2021: Full proposal submission deadline
September 1, 2021: Proposed funding start date
Post-doctoral trainee Abbi Hernandez receives a travel award at the UAB Microbiome Center Symposium
Abbi Hernandez, PhD, UAB Center for Exercise Medicine T32 program's postdoctoral trainee received a travel award for her poster presentation at the 2021 Virtual UAB Microbiome Center Symposium. Hernandez’s work titled “Alzheimer’s disease-inflicted microbiome alterations may be ameliorated by a ketogenic, time restricted diet in rats” investigated the effects of different dietary paradigms on the gut microbiome in young and aged rats.
“We found that time restricted feeding, regardless of macronutrient composition, resulted in significant changes in the gut microbiome of both age groups,” Hernandez said. “Notably, we saw a restoration of specific microbiota that are negatively affected by Alzheimer’s disease and by obesity or other metabolic impairment.”
She added that these data give her more evidence that the gut can be utilized as a target for Alzheimer’s disease and other metabolic disorders that occur with aging. She plans to continue to investigate in this area.
Congratulations, Abbi!
Liliana Baptista receives the Hardest Working Post-doc Award
Liliana Baptista, PhD, Post- Doctoral Fellow in the UAB Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics and Palliative Care received the Hardest Working Postdoc Award from the UAB Office of Postdoctoral Education.
A native of Portugal, Baptista joined UCEM Director Dr. Thomas Buford's lab as a postdoctoral trainee in 2018. She received her doctorate in Sport Sciences, with a concentration in Physical Activity and Health from the University of Coimbra, Portugal. She then did her fellowship at the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, Portugal. During this period, she received the Earlier Career Researcher award from the International Society of Exercise Immunology. Since then, she has authored 14 manuscripts on international peer-reviewed journals.
Currently, she is working on the Angiotensin Converting Enzyme- inhibitors Combined with Exercise for hypertensive Seniors (ACES) trial - a multi-site three-arm clinical trial conducted at the UAB Center for Exercise Medicine.
Broadly, her research focuses on understanding how exercise and/or medications can improve physical function associated with aging and/or disease. Currently, she is developing projects related to understanding how exercise influences the gut microbiome and associated metabolites (i.e. metabolomics). She hopes to contribute her efforts toward effective interventions that promote functional independence and health-related quality of life in older adults.
Congratulations Liliana!