The Exercise and Physical Activity Collaborative Team (ExPACT): a Proposed MoTrPAC Clinical Center

Ball State University, Muncie IN

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

Project Summary The Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC) is designed to discover and characterize the range of molecular transducers (the ‘molecular map’) that underlie the effects of physical activity (PA) in humans. Our Exercise and Physical Activity Collaborative Team (ExPACT) –an alliance of the University of Alabama at Birmingham Center for Exercise Medicine (UAB), Translational Research Institute for Metabolism and Diabetes in Orlando, Florida (TRI-MD), and Ball State University Human Performance Laboratory (BSU) –has extensive experience performing highly-controlled aerobic (AT) and resistance (RT) exercise training clinical trials in healthy and diseased populations. The overarching goal of ExPACT is to contribute substantively to successful MoTrPAC planning, execution, and innovation. Phase 1 has already been completed and consisted of: Aim 1) Effectively collaborate with MoTrPAC leaders and NIH leadership to help guide and finalize the structure and standard operating procedures (SOPs). In the remaining years of the project, the ExPACT will implement and complete Phase II and Phase III, as follows: Phase II (Recruitment and Testing Years) Aim 1. We will enroll 420 sedentary but healthy men and women 18+ y into a rigorously controlled, 12-wk, randomized trial of AT (n=140), RT (n=140), or no-exercise control (CON, n=50). ExPACT geography will enrich MoTrPAC racial, ethnic, urban, suburban, and rural diversity. The design incorporates comprehensive phenotyping to assess fitness and clinical outcomes, and human tissue phenotyping to link the molecular transducers with key biological responses to exercise. Aim 2. Pre-and posttraining, we will obtain strategically timed biospecimens before and after acute exercise. To better understand the biological extremes, we will conduct the same acute response studies in highly-trained athletes (AT (n=25) or RT (n=25)). Serial biospecimen collection in CON will allow estimation of biological, seasonal, circadian and methodological variability. Aim 3. To enhance the overall scientific impact of MoTrPAC, we will continue to work with the consortium to conduct ancillary studies, which will markedly augment subject and tissue phenotyping and interpretation of the molecular maps. Phase III (Close-out) Aim 1. We will complete all ExPACT data entry, quality control, and central deposit procedures in collaboration with the MoTrPAC Coordinating Center, and we will actively contribute to the completion of biospecimen analyses, manuscript writing, and dissemination of results. We would be honored to collaborate with MoTrPAC to contribute future knowledge on the molecular mechanisms through which physical activity can improve or preserve health.