Assistant Professor in the Department of Health & Human Physiology and member of the Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center (HCCC) and the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center (FOEDRC).
Lab Manager: Katie (Kathryn) Spitler, Ph.D.
Katie Spitler is a research specialist. She has been performing research at the University of Iowa since 2014. Previously she studied transcriptional regulation of cardiac metabolic genes in the laboratory of Dr. Chad Grueter. Following which, she explored the role of Angiopoietin like 4 in the regulation of triglyceride homeostasis in the laboratory of Dr. Brandon Davies. She is excited to be working with Dr. Talbert on understanding skeletal muscle wasting during cancer cachexia.
Research Associate: Ana Lira, BS
Ana Lira is a Research Associate. She has been working in research for 18 years and has been studying skeletal muscle at the University of Iowa for the last 10 years. She has previously investigated the role of autophagy in preserving muscle function during aging at the lab of Dr. Vitor Lira, and the molecular changes that occur during and after exercise (MotrPac Consortium) at the lab of Dr. Sue Bodine. She is excited to be working with Dr. Talbert to understand the mechanism of cancer cachexia.
Graduate Student: Marina Gomes Barbosa, BSc
Marina is a Nutritionist, and currently, she is a second-year Master's student in Health and Human Physiology. Her research interest is understanding how cancer can contribute to developing cachexia; also, she is excited to work on skeletal muscle wasting.
Graduate Student: Yabing Wang, BS
Yabing Wang is a first-year master's thesis student in the Department of Health and Human Physiology. Yabing is originally from China, where she completed her undergraduate degree in Sports Rehabilitation from Wuhan Sports University. She became a member in Muscle Molecular Physiology Laboratory since August 2023. She looks forward to working with Dr. Talbert to explore the underlying mechanisms that contribute to skeletal muscle wasting in obese pancreatic cancer patients.
Undergraduate Researchers
Oscar Cruz
Lab Alumni
Sydney Allison - Undergraduate Honors Thesis Student, 2020-2021
Glorie Borsay - Research Assistant, 2020-2021
Connor Flynn - Undergraduate Student, 2020-2021
Jayarani Putri - Postdoctoral Scholar 2021-2022
Natalia Weinzierl - Undergraduate Honors Thesis Student, 2021-2023
Emily Kalmanek - Undergraduate Honors Thesis Student, 2021-2023