Office of Primary Care and Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) Program

Russell Tracy, Ph.D., professor of pathology & laboratory medicine and biochemistry, in his lab

(MAY 9, 2024) Russell Tracy, Ph.D., professor of pathology & laboratory medicine and biochemistry, spoke with WCAX-TV about his team’s groundbreaking study about the molecular impact of exercise.

For the past eight years, researchers—including Larner College of Medicine scientists Jessica Rooney, M.P.H., Elaine Cornell, Nicole Gagne, and Sandy May—have been conducting a study supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Common Fund: The Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC). With nearly 2,600 volunteers, the study aims to examine the molecular effects of exercise on healthy adults and children, considering factors like age, race, and gender. The goal is to create comprehensive molecular maps of these changes and uncover why physical activity has significant health benefits.

In a series of papers published in Nature, Nature Communications, and Nature Metabolism, researchers have already laid out their preliminary findings.