Matthew Romero

Assistant Professor of MCD Biology B. S., New Mexico State University  Ph.D., Auburn University Postdoctorate, University of California, Los Angeles

Focus of the Romero Lab: Skeletal muscle biology, epigenetic regulation and metabolism.

The Romero lab is focused on the epigenetics of adaptation, particularly in skeletal muscle. Skeletal muscle makes up 40% of our entire body weight, ~30% of our energy expenditure at rest and has the remarkable ability to regenerate after an injury. Skeletal muscle also has an amazing capacity to adapt to imposed demands. For example, skeletal muscles can gain strength and grow larger when we do activities like resistance training. Most notably, skeletal muscle, in conjunction with our cardiovascular system, can greatly increase our aerobic capacity, which helps us improve tasks like running for long distances. Regular physical activity, such as exercise training, can increase both skeletal muscle size and aerobic capacity. Unfortunately, lack of physical activity, whether from lifestyle constraints or disease settings, can greatly impact our overall health, with lack of activity being recognized as the fourth leading cause of death and contributes to over 40 chronic diseases. Even with all we know about the positive benefits of regular exercise on our health we are just beginning to unravel the molecular mechanisms behind how exercise adaptations occur.

 In the Romero Lab, we’re interested in understanding how exercise signals are transmitted to chromatin and how this epigenetic signaling regulates the genes that are both expressed and/or repressed after exercise. In particular, we are investigating how chromatin folding and epigenetic regulation facilitates adaptations to exercise in both the presence and absence of disease using a combination of physiological and genomic approaches.

 Link to my publications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1l7ZwNZkCuwEio/bibliography/public/