Category: Science

Dr. Graham has spent the majority of his time as an early career scientist looking into ways to preserve muscle health and function after traumatic spinal cord injury (tSCI). There are 300,000 individuals in the US with a tSCI. The unique physiological effects of tSCI make full or even partial recovery following severe injuries difficult and pharmaceutical therapies have been shown to be largely ineffective. Zachary will highlight some of these difficulties. 

Recently, Zachary has developed in interest in Parkinson’s disease (PD). It is starting to become widely accepted that PD may begin in the enteric nervous system where it causes disruption in digestion, gut homeostasis and even sleep, before entering the central nervous system. Outside of the traditional presenting symptoms of PD such as the development of tremor and changes in gait and speech patterns, PD is very much a mitochondrial disease as almost all tissues investigated in those with PD have shown markers of mitochondrial dysfunction. Dr. Graham has started collaborating with colleagues at IHMC to better understand how high-intensity resistance exercise improves clinical, performance, and molecular outcomes after long-duration training.