Lauren M. Sparks, PhD
Associate Investigator at the Translational Research Institute for Metabolism and Diabetes.
Translational Research
Overview
Dr. Lauren M. Sparks is an Investigator at the Translational Research Institute. Dr. Sparks pursues investigations on the topics of exercise response variation. Dr. Sparks is interested in understanding why some individuals do not respond favorably to exercise as a means of improving their metabolism and related co-morbidities. She aims to advance the field of exercise and type 2 diabetes and potentially shift the paradigm, allowing interventions to be targeted to those individuals most likely to benefit as well as identify novel approaches to treat those who do not. Dr. Sparks investigates the communication between muscle and fat tissue and how some individuals who are obese, but metabolically healthy, differ from those individuals who are obese and metabolically unhealthy. Prior to joining the TRI, Dr. Sparks was a postdoctoral scientist at Maastricht University in the Netherlands from 2009-2012. She focused on exercise and mitochondrial function in muscle and brown adipose tissue. From 2006-2009, Dr. Sparks was a postdoctoral fellow at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with a focus on exercise and substrate metabolism in type 2 diabetes. Dr. Lauren Sparks was born in Patterson, Louisiana. She earned a B.S. in Zoology and a B.A. in Spanish in 2002 and continued on to earn her PhD in Molecular Biology in 2006 from Louisiana State University.
Articles
Skeletal muscle transcriptome response to a bout of endurance exercise in physically active and sedentary older adults.
American journal of physiology. Endocrinology and metabolism
2022
Increased liver fat associates with severe metabolic perturbations in low birth weight men
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ENDOCRINOLOGY
2022
Skeletal muscle transcriptome response to a bout of endurance exercise in physically active and sedentary older adults
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGY-ENDOCRINOLOGY AND METABOLISM
2022
Intermuscular adipose tissue in metabolic disease
NATURE REVIEWS ENDOCRINOLOGY
2022
Mitochondrial Energetics in Skeletal Muscle Are Associated With Leg Power and Cardiorespiratory Fitness in the Study of Muscle, Mobility and Aging
JOURNALS OF GERONTOLOGY SERIES A-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES AND MEDICAL SCIENCES
2022
Understanding heterogeneity of responses to, and optimizing clinical efficacy of, exercise training in older adults: NIH NIA Workshop summary
GEROSCIENCE
2022
Aerobic training increases mitochondrial respiratory capacity in human skeletal muscle stem cells from sedentary individuals
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGY-CELL PHYSIOLOGY
2022
A Novel Endocrine Role for the BAT-Released Lipokine 12,13-diHOME to Mediate Cardiac Function
CIRCULATION
2021
A Metabolomic Signature of Glucagon Action in Healthy Individuals With Overweight/Obesity
JOURNAL OF THE ENDOCRINE SOCIETY
2021
Twenty-four hour assessments of substrate oxidation reveal differences in metabolic flexibility in type 2 diabetes that are improved with aerobic training
DIABETOLOGIA
2021
Education & Training
Education
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA