Physical inactivity is a major public health challenge underlying a broad range of health problems at all ages. While it is widely accepted in the medical community that physical activity produces many health benefits, the underlying molecular mechanisms are poorly understood.
The National Institutes of Health Common Fund announced today the first awards for its Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity in Humans Program, which will allow scientists to develop a comprehensive map of the molecular changes that occur in response to physical activity.
Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center was awarded $5.1 million as one of 19 research centers in the country involved in this initiative. It will serve as the Consortium Coordinating Center, which will be led by a team including Michael Miller, Ph.D., professor of public health sciences at Wake Forest Baptist, W. Jack Rejeski, Ph.D., of Wake Forest University, Marco Pahor, M.D., of the University of Florida, and Russell Tracy, Ph.D., of the University of Vermont.
The Consortium Coordinating Center will manage study protocol development and implementation and will coordinate the collection and distribution of data and biological samples during the project.
In addition, Barbara Nicklas, Ph.D., professor of medicine at Wake Forest Baptist, will work in partnership with colleagues at Duke University and East Carolina University in one of the six adult Clinical Centers that is projected to enroll about 450 people toward a national goal of 3,000 study participants to engage in the exercise study.
Read the entire NIHrelease.
Media Relations
Marguerite Beck: marbeck@wakehealth.edu, 336-716-2415