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DIVISION OF ATHLETIC TRAINING FACULTY PROFILES
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Tim
A. Butterfield, PhD, ATCDepartment of Rehabilitation Sciences
210, College of Health Sciences Building
900 South Limestone Ave
Lexington, KY 40536-0200
Tel: Office: 859-323-1100 Ext 80840
Laboratory: 859-323-1100 Ext. 80887
Fax: 859-323-6005
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| Recent Publications
PubMed
Links
Curriculum Vitae |
Ttbutte2@uky.edu |
Dr. Butterfield is a NATABOC certified athletic trainer and
assistant professor in the Division of
Athletic Training.
Research Interests:
My research focuses on the plasticity of skeletal
muscle. Currently, I am exploring the potential role of directly
measured fiber dynamics and force production during eccentric and
concentric exercise on muscle damage and functional adaptation. My
experimental models include in-vivo ambulation and exercise models that
allow the direct, real time measurements of mechanical properties and
performance of skeletal muscle during modified use. Although it is
known that muscle adapts following some forms of exercise, the
mechanisms that govern these adaptive processes remain unknown at the
cellular level. These adaptations may be related to the mechanical
micro-environment of individual fibers within the matrix of skeletal
muscle, and not to the performance of the muscle as a whole, as the
intact muscle-tendon unit behaves in a disassociated manner compared to
the muscle fibers during exercise. Recently, we have begun a series of
experiments to elucidate the role of stretch-activated ion channels in
the functional, exercise specific adaptation of skeletal muscle
following long-tern exercise. In addition, the mechanisms whereby
sarcomeres are added to muscle both in parallel and in series may have
complimentary but disparate mechanisms specific to exercise type. My
intentions in the future are to understand the cell processes that
govern these mechanisms of sarcomere addition and subtraction in healthy
skeletal muscle, in an effort to apply this knowledge to diseased muscle
that fails to adapt to modified use, such as Dystrophic muscle.
Ultimately, I would like my lab to incorporate these models to look at
tissue mechanics from a “whole organ” perspective, not as an isolated
unit, where muscle function impacts bone, cartilage and ligament health.
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