by NASH DUNN
News Reporter

Appalachian State University’s Department of Health, Leisure and Exercise Science (HLES) opened a new Vascular Biology and Autonomic Laboratory Oct. 15 in partnership with the Institute of Health and Human Services (IHHS).

The laboratory, on the second floor of University Hall located behind Staples, is a “satellite lab,” and will house vascular and autonomic studies in addition to multi-disciplinary research.

The Departments of Chemistry, Nutrition, Health Promotion, Psychology and Family and Consumer Sciences have already shown interest in conducting collaborative research in the lab.

“It’s a meeting place for ideas, and almost a think tank,” HLES professor Scott Collier said. “It’s an incredible opportunity to be multi-disciplinary. We have the ability to collaborate now with everybody in the community and on campus.”

Paul L. Gaskill, HLES director said the lab benefits HLES’ three-pronged mission for scholarship, research and study. 

“It’s a teaching lab for graduates and undergraduates, it is a research and scholarship environment where data is collected and analyzed, and it is a service environment because the subjects are benefitted from what we’re doing in the lab,” Gaskill said.

While the main focus of the lab will be how exercise and exogenous supplements affect blood pressure, studies will also focus on arterial health and how they remodel through different treatments.

“We want to look at vessel health and by looking at that we can determine a local treatment that would be specific to that person, whether it is exercise prescription, nutrition prescription, psychological prescription or the combination of any of those,” Collier said.

The lab is financed by start-up funds, internal grants and donated equipment from HLES and Watauga County Medical Center.

Due to the lack of space and access at the Human Performance Laboratory in Holmes Convocation Center, lab areas for HLES research are in constant need, Collier said. 

When University Hall began its recent renovation, IHHS director John M. Turner met with HLES and reserved a rent-free space for the new lab.

“[Our] testing utilizes a lot of people from the community, and the new facility at University Hall allows for community parking and handicapped access,” Collier said.

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