By Kaylee Alivo
Building on the University of Iowa’s strong reputation in cardiovascular research, Vitor Lira, associate professor in the Department of Health, Sport, and Human Physiology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences recently shared his research through the American Heart Association’s Usage of Omics Techniques in Research webinar. The event spotlighted how scientists are using advanced molecular technologies to uncover the mechanisms driving cardiovascular and metabolic health.
“Omics technologies, combined with powerful computational tools, are helping us integrate data across tissues and systems to uncover both shared and unique mechanisms leading to dysfunction associated with diverse diseases, thereby accelerating the identification of new therapeutic targets,” Lira added.
The term omics refers to large-scale methods used to study thousands of biological molecules at once, such as genes, proteins, and metabolites, to better understand how specific cells or tissues are affected in conditions of disease, recovery, and health.
Lira leads the Muscle Biology and Metabolism Lab, where his research focuses on identifying how proteins in skeletal muscle cells change with age and contribute to weakness and atrophy.
“As muscles weaken, people tend to move less and gain weight, which leads to a more limited and unhealthier lifestyle,” Lira explained. “These changes also have negative implications for cardiovascular health. Understanding key initial changes occurring in muscle and in the cardiovascular system during aging can help us find strategies that preserve both muscle and heart health as we age.”
In his lab, Lira uses a specialized omics approach called proteomics, which focuses specifically on studying proteins and how they change under different conditions. This technique allows researchers to analyze thousands of molecules at once to gain a clearer picture of what happens inside cells during health and disease. By comparing how proteins changed in muscles across young adult mice, middle-aged mice that remained sedentary, and middle-aged mice that exercised for several weeks, his team uncovered early warning signs of decline before muscles show physical weakness.
A key finding from his research is that early in the aging process (i.e., before muscles atrophy and become weaker), muscles start to relax slower after contracting, and this is intimately related to their decreasing ability to use energy. His lab found that the tiny structures within muscle cells, where mitochondria interact with the sarcoplasmic reticulum—an organelle that stores calcium necessary for muscle contraction—start to change at that stage contributing to the slow relaxation. “We found 28 proteins at these tiny structures whose abundance was inversely regulated at early stages of aging and by exercise, making them promising candidates for therapeutic intervention,” Lira said.
These findings could help identify new ways to slow muscle decline and support cardiovascular health. Lira also emphasized that adopting omics techniques and data-driven approaches can speed up the discovery process and strengthen essential skills for modern biomedical research.