Overview Academic/Research Interest Areas

Dr. Lightfoot's general area of research interest is in exercise genomics and he has been fortunate enough to be funded by the National Institutes of Health over the past four years to work in this area. The overall focus of his lab group has been to identify the genetic factors that regulate daily physical activity (yep - physical activity is regulated by genetics!) and exercise endurance. Some of the exciting results from the lab in this area deal with specific chromosomal locations that control daily activity and maximal aerobic capacity as well as the determination that somewhere between 38-52% of a person's physical activity level is probably influenced by genetic factors (so yes, you can be born to be a couch potato!).

Professional Affiliations

American College of Sports Medicine (1985 - Current)

American Physiological Society (1991-current)

Southeastern ACSM Regional Chapter (1983-86, 1989 - Current)

American Society for Gravitational and Space Biology (1988 - 1990)

Aerospace Medical Association (1986 - 1990)

Mid-Atlantic ACSM Regional Chapter (1988, 89)

Louisiana Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (1979-82)

Recent Publications

Lightfoot, JT, MJ Turner, AM Kleinfehn, AE Jedlicka, T Oshimura, J Marzec, W Gladwell, LJ Leamy,SR Kleeberger. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with maximal exercise endurance in mice. Journal of Applied Physiology 103(1): 105-110, 2007.Lightfoot, JT. Experimentally evolving exercise endurance: One step at a time. Journal of AppliedPhysiology 101:1277-1278, 2006.

Jung, AP, TS Curtis, MJ Turner, JT Lightfoot. Influence of age of exposure to a running wheel on activity in inbred mice. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 38(1): 51-56, 2006.

Turner, MJ, SR Kleeberger, JT Lightfoot. Influence of genetic background on daily running-wheel activity differs with aging. Physiologic Genomics. 22: 76-85, 2005.

JT Lightfoot, MJ Turner, M Daves, A Vordermark, SR Kleeberger. Genetic influence on daily wheel running activity level. Physiologic Genomics. 19: 270-276, 2004.

Educational Background

B.S., Physical Education, Mathematics (minor), Northeast Louisiana University, 1981

M.Ed., Exercise Physiology, Counseling (minor), Northeast Louisiana University, 1982

Ph.D., Exercise Physiology, University of Tennessee, 1986

Post-Doc, Physiology, The Johns Hopkins University, 1989