Undergraduate Research & Scholarships

Kayla Lee

Exercise Metabolism: The Effects of Physical Fitness on Metabolism in Aging

The body’s metabolism is highly regulated by the balance of energy derived from different fuel sources in the body. This summer, I will be investigating how age, physical fitness level, and gender impact metabolic flexibility and how lactate plays a role in the process. Subjects will participate in an exercise stress test and receive cardiopulmonary assessments, as well as biochemical analyses of muscle and fat. From this data, we hope to extract information about how fitness level affects the body’s ability to alter metabolism in response to available fuel during exercise.

Message To Sponsor

I am beyond grateful to have been granted this opportunity made possible by the generous donors who supported me and other students in our URAP Summer Fellow projects. Engaging in this project helped me refine my skills in the lab and worked to further my interest in the complexities of the human body!