Duke Center for Living

Faculty

Chair, Research Committee

Research at the Duke Center for Living is rooted in translational research, and includes explorations of risk assessment, disease prevention, and novel treatments for a range of disorders related to cardiovascular diseases, heart failure, lipid metabolism, diabetes, and other major illnesses.

Research examples include:

Studies linking the body’s production of the chemical nitric oxide with blood vessel health, including arteries’ reaction to stress
Exploration of how exercise increases the production of an enzyme responsible for producing nitric oxide
Evaluation of genetic risk for stress-induced cardiovascular damage
Study of the role of central and peripheral factors and muscle metabolism on exercise limitations in chronic heart failure

DCL investigators led one of the first large-scale clinical trials to demonstrate how aerobic exercise promotes weight loss and benefits cholesterol levels (STRRIDE--Studies of Targeted Risk Reduction Interventions through Defined Exercise).

DCL researchers have expertise in basic science and conduct laboratory research in cell biology and metabolism, genetics and genomics, and the pathophysiology underlying disease. Research also includes clinical trials in pharmacological treatments as well as dietary, psychosocial, and exercise interventions for treating disease and improving quality of life.

The Sarah W. Stedman Nutrition and Metabolism Center, led by Christopher B. Newgard, PhD, also located on the DCL campus, is an inter-departmental and interdisciplinary center for metabolic and nutritional research which includes collaborative projects with several DCL researchers.

Selected publications

Hauser ER, Crossman DC, Granger CB, Haines JL, Jones CJH, Mooser V, McAdam B, Winkelmann BR, Kraus WE. A Genome Wide Scan for Early-Onset Coronary Artery Disease in 438 Families: The GENECARD Study. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 75:436-447, 2004.
Cobb FR, Kraus WE, Root M, Allen JD. Assessing risk for coronary heart disease: beyond Framingham. Am Heart J 146(4): 572-580, 2003.
Keteyian SJ, Duscha BD, Browner CA, Green HJ, Marks CRC, Schachat FH, Annex BH, Kraus WE. Gender differences between men and women in skeletal muscle and response to exercise training in heart failure patients. Am Heart J 145: 912, 2003.
Kraus WE, Houmard JA, Duscha BD, Knetzger KJ, Wharton MB, McCartney JS, Bales CW, Henes S, Samsa GP, Otvos JE, Kulkarni KR, Slentz CA. Effects of exercise the amount and intensity of exercise on plasma lipoproteins. New Engl J Med 347: 1483, 2002.
Slentz CA, Duscha BD, Ketchum K, Johnson JL, Aiken L, Samsa GP, Houmard JA, Bales CW, Kraus WE. How much exercise is needed to improve body weight, body composition and waist circumference: STRRIDE – a randomized controlled study. Archiv. Int. Med. 164: 31-39, 2004.