July 2024
Respiratory Research Staff Goes to Boston
Last month, our dedicated staff attended the prestigious ACSM American College of Sports Medicine Conference in Boston. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) annual conference has a longstanding tradition of bringing people together from different disciplines of sports medicine and exercise physiology to share research and foster connections. We are proud to highlight six of our esteemed doctors presented their groundbreaking research at this renowned event. Drs. Rossiter and Ferguson presented with experts from Switzerland, Florida and Arkansas in a Highlighted Session on “Power and Endurance: Polar Opposites or Willing Partners?”. The session explored the interactions of these seemingly independent qualities of exercise performance from molecular mechanisms to clinical translation. Dr. Stringer presented on exercise prescription for patients with chronic disease, and PhD student Jeff Moore presented on the effects of hot water immersion on blood glucose control. On the 31st, Dr. Michele Girardi and Asghar Abbasi participated in a thematic poster session entitled “Investigations of Respiratory System Function in Health and Disease.” Dr. Girardi presented his work on the sensitivity and specificity of geometric techniques to identify expiratory flow limitation during exercise, while Dr. Abbasi presented his work on how a single bout of endurance exercise can modify small vesicle’s (EVs) concentration and content in the serum and broncho-alveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of mice in response to cigarette smoke exposure. Their contributions underscore our commitment to advancing medical science and improving health outcomes.
A Practicum: Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing and Interpretation
On June 6th – 8th, the Practicum was held at the Respiratory Research Center. The Practicum was started in 1982 by Drs. Karlman Wasserman and Brian J. Whipp to provide hands-on training in cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET). Over the years, the course has evolved to keep up with new technology and clinical practices, but it still focuses on exercise physiology. The program includes lectures, group discussions, and lab demonstrations. The main goals are to understand how the body’s gas exchange works during exercise and to use test results to describe exercise function accurately. The course is designed for doctors in practice or academia, exercise scientists, and lab staff involved in CPET. Participants receive the textbook “Principles of Exercise Testing and Interpretation” as a course guide. The Practicum is open to anyone and is held three times a year, with the next one scheduled for October. Use the link to find out more!
Past Student is off to Milan, Italy!
Rebeca Nunes Silva, Ph.D., was a visiting student from Brazil in 2017 when she completed a six-month research internship at The Lundquist Institute. Six years later, when she had the chance to pick any research center in the US for another six-month internship, she again chose the Respiratory Research Center. While here, she worked on a project with Drs. Carrie Ferguson and Janos Porszasz to improve exercise testing methods for COPD patients. Rebeca’s research interests include evaluating cardiopulmonary physiological variables in response to exercise in patients with heart failure and COPD. Rebeca received her BSc in Physical Therapy in 2016 and her MS in Respiratory Physical Therapy in 2018 from São Paulo State University (UNESP). This past March, she graduated from the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar – Brazil), where she was mentored by Dr. Audrey Borghi-Silva, and received a PhD in Cardiopulmonary Physical Therapy and Exercise Physiology in 2024.
We are excited to share that Rebeca has accepted a role at the University of Milan as a Postdoctoral Researcher. There, she will be working with Dr. Marco Guazzi on projects involving patients with heart failure and CPETs. The Respiratory Research Center understands the importance of investing in the future of cardiopulmonary research, and we are excited to follow the great work she will do. Go Dr. Silva! Muito bem! Bom trabalho!
RRC Member of the Month
Robert Calmelat is a native Californian who attended California State University, Fullerton, where he received his bachelor’s degree in speech communication and an MS in kinesiology. He spent the first half of his career working in cardiac rehabilitation and stress testing. For the last eight years, he has worked at The Lundquist Institute as an exercise physiologist, conducting CPET and pulmonary function testing on clinical patients and clinical trial subjects. Robert works directly with Dr. Carrie Ferguson and the CoreLabs, reading dozens of CPETs from all over the world. He has enjoyed a life of playing sports and now finds pleasure in riding motorcycles on the street and in the dirt with his wife, Randa, and daughter, Gabby.
