2026
SWIFT Trial results published
The multi-site randomized trial comparing bariatric surgery to immediate total knee arthroplasty in severe obesity appears in Journal of Arthroplasty.
The TEMPO@UVA Laboratory
Advancing mitochondrial and metabolic health across the lifespan.
Rigorous bioenergetic measurement, translational exercise science, and open methods — from single organelles to whole humans, in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Virginia.
Peer-reviewed papers95+
Presentations122+
Funded grants37
Invited talks23
Our approach
The laboratory works at two scales at once, organized around four commitments.
1
Measure mitochondrial function with precision
High-resolution respirometry (Oroboros O2k and NextGen O2k) in permeabilized fibers and isolated mitochondria, alongside non-invasive near-infrared spectroscopy of muscle oxidative capacity.
2
Test exercise as medicine, across the lifespan
Randomized, longitudinal, and repeated-measures exercise studies in healthy adults, older adults, and people living with cardiometabolic diseases and related disorders.
3
Bridge basic and clinical bioenergetics
We connect what we measure at the bench — coupling efficiency, substrate oxidation, ETC function — to what we can change in a person, using translational approaches.
4
Train the next generation of scientists
We mentor postdoctoral fellows, doctoral candidates, master's students, and undergraduates in reproducible bioenergetic methods, statistics, scientific writing, and grantsmanship.
The Central Questions
How do mitochondria--the central energy hub of the cell--respond to exercise, aging, and cardiometabolic diseases?
How can we harness this knowledge to improve human health?
Our research spans skeletal muscle mitochondrial bioenergetics, in vivo NIRS-based assessments, in situ high-resolution respirometry assessments, immunoenergetics, and structured exercise interventions from cells to pri-clinical modules, to humans including in:
Healthy young and older adults
Obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiometabolic disorders
Mitochondrial phenotyping in preclinical models of cardiometabolic disorders
Skeletal muscle health, sarcopenia, and cachexia
Recent highlights
2025
Immunoenergetics paper
Cho, Spielmann, and Irving show that physiological lactate concentrations reshape T-cell phenotype and mitochondrial respiration. Physiological Reports.
2025
Oroboros Visiting Scientist
Dr. Irving completed a visiting-scientist residency at Oroboros Instruments in Innsbruck, Austria, contributing to NextGen O2k method development.
2024
HFpEF exercise rescue paper
Voluntary exercise restores skeletal-muscle oxidative capacity in a two-hit HFpEF model. JACC: Basic to Translational Science.
Now recruiting
MS/PhD students in Kinesiology for the Fall 2027 cycle, plus rolling undergraduate research positions for 2026–27.