Darby Easterday, a master’s student in the Colorado State University Department of Health and Exercise Science, was recognized with the Excellence in Research and Scholarship award at CSU’s 2023 Graduate Student Showcase on Nov. 15, one of five awarded by the College of Health and Human Sciences. Easterday conducts research in the Extracellular Regulation of Metabolism Laboratory with her mentor, Assistant Professor Dan Lark. Read on for more info about Easterday’s research.
What inspired you to conduct this research?
As a Health and Exercise Science alum and current graduate student, you can imagine sports and exercise hold a very special place in my heart. Like too many people in this world, I have loved ones whose health has been compromised by cardiovascular and metabolic disease. I’ve also had experience working as clinical staff on the cardiology unit in a hospital, interacting with patients at every stage of these diseases. A growing and traditionally successful aim of exercise science is to improve adherence to exercise as a means to combat cardiovascular disease. However, my perspective has led me to see a gap in the treatment options for populations of patients who are not physically able to reap the benefits of exercise, and I hope to bridge that gap!
Tell us about your research and what impact you hope it will have.
My research aims to study a potential mechanism for increasing the energy expenditure of white adipose tissue utilizing particles that naturally occur in the extracellular environment of skeletal muscle. Because an excess of white adipose tissue is a hallmark of obesity, this could be an effective way to increase whole-body caloric expenditure independent of exercise. I hope that my work can contribute to innovating novel approaches to treating obesity and metabolic disorders, particularly in clinical populations that may not be able to reap the benefits of exercise.
What does receiving this award mean to you?
Every opportunity to share my science is a win, in my book. Research communication allows me to celebrate my work, as well as invite my peers to share their thoughts, interpretations, and suggestions on my scientific process.
Of course, receiving an award like this is very affirming of all the hard work I and Dr. Lark put into this project. However, I find the most rewarding element to be the recognition that I can communicate my very niche slice of science to my community, and they find it just as cool as I do.
The Department of Health and Exercise Science is a part of CSU’s College of Health and Human Sciences.
