Building Better Tissues: Understanding Exercise-Induced Remodeling

RET educator will explore how mechanical loading from exercise fundamentally changes tissue structure and function—from the molecular signals that initiate remodeling to the cellular mechanisms that drive adaptation. Our lab investigates these questions across different tissues, ages, and conditions, examining both the beneficial adaptations that occur with appropriate exercise and the maladaptive responses that can arise under other circumstances. Throughout the summer, you’ll gain hands-on experience with the diverse skillsets our research demands. You might spend part of your week designing and executing loading protocols or preparing tissue samples for molecular analysis, then transition to interpreting the resulting data—identifying patterns in gene expression and connecting them back to tissue-level outcomes. This full-cycle approach exposes you to both the experimental realities of biomedical research and the computational thinking required to extract meaning from complex datasets. We’re committed to crafting a summer experience that connects to your classroom—whether that’s through direct applications to human health, strategies for engaging students in experimental design, or familiarity with the tools and practices that define modern biomedical research.