email: croberts@ucla.edu
phone: 310-825-8499
fax: 310-206-9184
office: 4101 Life Sciences Building
homepage: http://www.physci.ucla.edu/research/roberts
research interests: Role of Physical Activity and Diet in the Prevention and Treatment of Metabolic and Cardiovascular Diseases
Research Interests
Approximately 2 out of every 3 individuals in the US currently dies from cardiovascular diseases, cancer or diabetes, and 2 out of every 3 individuals in the US population is overweight or obese. Thus, the study of chronic disease has an impact on the health of the whole population, and studying mechanisms and therapies for chronic diseases, for example, exercise training and diet interventions, is vitally important as lifestyle-gene interactions are responsible for the majority of chronic diseases. My research investigates the mechanisms by which exercise are protective against cardiovascular disease and diabetes. My long-term goals are to 1) utilize a population to molecule approach to gain insight into disease mechanisms, 2) individualize exercise prescription based on genetics, and 3) investigate optimal exercise paradigms to increase skeletal muscle mass and decrease adipose tissue mass and metabolic function in these tissues. These studies incorporate the use of clinical study designs and measurement techniques, including: arterial stiffness using pulse wave velocity and analysis, oral glucose tolerance testing, dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), carotid ultrasonography and skeletal muscle and adipose tissue biopsy studies. I am the recipient of a Beginning Grant-in-Aid from the American Heart Association, Western States Affiliate to investigate the effects of resistance training on cardiovascular disease risk.
Selected Publications
Roberts, C.K., Sindhu, R.K. 2009. Oxidative Stress and the metabolic syndrome Life Sciences 84 705-712 .
Roberts, C.K., Won, D., Pruthi, S., Kurtovic, S., Sindhu, R.K., Vaziri, N.D. and Barnard, R.J.. 2006. Effect of a diet and exercise intervention on inflammation, myeloperoxidase, matrix metalloproteinase-9, adhesion molecules, and chemotaxis in men with metabolic syndrome J. Appl. Physiol 100 1657-1665 .
Chen, A.K., Roberts, C. K., and Barnard, R.J.. 2006. Effect of a short-term diet and exercise intervention on metabolic and anthropometric parameters in overweight children and adolescents Metabolism 55 871-878 .
Roberts, C. K., Barnard, R.J., Sindhu R. K., Jurczak, M., Ehdaie A., and N.D. Vaziri. 2006. Oxidative stress and dysregulation of NAD(P)H oxidase and antioxidant enzymes in diet induced metabolic syndrome Metabolism 55 928-934 .
Roberts, C.K. and Barnard, R.J.. 2005. Effect of exercise and diet on chronic disease J. Appl. Physiol 98(1) 3-30 .
Roberts, C.K., Sindhu, R. K., Vaziri, N.D., Ehdaie, A., Jurczak, M. and Barnard, R.J.. 2005. A high-fat, refined carbohydrate diet induces endothelial dysfunction, oxidant/antioxidant imbalance and depresses nitric oxide synthase protein expression J. Appl. Physiol 98(1) 203-210 .
Roberts, C.K., Vaziri, N.D. and Barnard, R.J.. 2002. Effect of short-term, intensive diet and exercise intervention on insulin, nitric oxide availability Circulation 106(20) 2530-2532 .
Roberts, C.K., Vaziri, N.D., Wang, X.Q. and Barnard, R.J.. 2000. Enhanced NO inactivation and hypertension induced by a high-fat, refined-carbohydrate diet Hypertension 36 423-429 .
Roberts, C.K., Barnard, R.J., Jasman, A. and Balon, T.W.. 1999. Acute exercise increases nitric oxide synthase activity in skeletal muscle Am. J. Physiol 277 E390-E394 .
Roberts, C.K., Barnard, R.J., Scheck, S. and Balon, T.W.. 1997. Exercise-stimulated glucose transport in skeletal muscle is nitric oxide dependent Am. J. Physiol 273 E220-225 .