Molecular and cellular exercise physiology – The Ruas Lab

Research in our laboratory is aimed at understanding the molecular mechanisms that mediate skeletal muscle adaptations to diverse challenges and their local and systemic consequences. We are particularly interested in understanding how exercised or sedentary skeletal muscle can crosstalk with other organs, and how it can affect individual health and disease.

Part of the:
frormer and current research group members

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Our research

graphic illustration of ruas lab research focus

Sedentary lifestyles seem to come at a high cost to our health and have been linked to the incidence of several diseases including diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative diseases (such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s), mood disorders (e.g. depression), and even cancer. Physical activity and skeletal muscle condition play a clear role in the prevention and treatment of these diseases. However, exercise programs are not always viable treatment options due to inherent disease characteristics such as muscle weakness, difficulty in movement, or, in particular, patient compliance.

By studying the mechanisms by which skeletal muscle adapts to different challenges and positively affects so many aspects of human health, we can learn valuable lessons that can be translated into future disease therapies.

Research Projects

The common goal of the projects being developed in our laboratory is to better understand the signal transduction and gene regulatory pathways that control skeletal muscle function in health and disease. With this knowledge, we aim at developing strategies that can be used as possible therapeutic avenues for the treatment of metabolic and degenerative diseases.

We are particularly interested in understanding how exercised or sedentary skeletal muscle can crosstalk with other organs, and how it can affect individual health and disease.

Publications

Selected publications

Full list of publications

Staff and contact

Group leader

All members of the group

Visiting address

Karolinska Institutet, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Biomedicum, Solnavägen 9, floor 5, Solna, 171 65

Postal address

Karolinska Institutet, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Attn: [Name of recipient], Stockholm, 17171, Sweden

Former Group members

  • Serge Ducommun
  • Paulo Jannig
  • Igor Cervenka
  • Michele Azzolini
  • Jorge Correia 
  • Duarte Ferreira
  • Shamim Dadvar 
  • Paula da Silva 
  • Leandro Agudelo
  • Manizheh Izadi
  • Lars Ketscher
  • Amanda Klein
  • Kyle Martin 
  • Vicente Martinez-Redondo
frormer and current research group members
Photo: Xmas dinner, Stockholm, December 5th, 2017.

Rotations and internships

Simona Skiotyte (2022)
Research Project for the Biomedicine degree at Karolinska Institutet

Tiffanie Lefteri (2022)
Research Project for the Biomedicine degree at Karolinska Institutet

Luka Krzic (2021)
Research Project for the Biomedicine degree at Karolinska Institutet

Bashar Issa (2021)
Research Project for the Biomedicine degree at Karolinska Institutet

Jordi G. Torres (2020)
Research project for the Biochemistry degree at the University of Barcelona, Spain.

Marie Herrnhold (2019)
Internship from the Biomedicine program at Karolinska Institutet.

Mariana Ribeiro (2018)
Master’s thesis. MSc in Pharmaceutical Sciences. University of Lisbon, Portugal.

Tomas Gybel (2018)
Visiting student from Mazaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

Baubak Shamim (2018)
Visiting PhD student from the Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia

Paulo Jannig (2016)
Visiting PhD student from the University Sao Paulo, Brazil

Miguel Moutinho (2016)
Visiting PhD student from the University of Lisbon, Portugal

Abdirahman Farah (2015)
Internship from the Biomedicine Masters program at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

Shamim Dadvar (2015)
Internship from the Medicine undergraduate program at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

Alicia Hansson (2015)
Degree Project from the Medicine undergraduate program at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
In collaboration with Dr. Sreekumaran Nair at the Mayo Clinic, USA

Austin Lee (2014)
Internship from the Life Science undergraduate program at Harvard College, Boston MA, USA

Fredrik Wernstål (2014)
Internship from the Medicine undergraduate program at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

Charles Petipré (2014)
Master’s thesis, MSc in Genomics and Proteomics, Université de Lille, France
Supported by the Erasmus Programme

Benedicta Ugochi Iwuagwu (2013)
Internship. MSc in Biomedicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
Recipient of Karolinska Institutet's Global scholarship award, 2011

Oscar Andén (2013/2014)
Internship from the Biomedicine undergraduate program, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

Vera Blaschke. (2013/2014)
Internship. Bachelor’s degree in Life Science, University of Konstanz, Germany
Recipient of a Leonardo da Vinci programme scholarship (European Commission)

frormer and current research group members
Photo: Lab Retreat. Tallinn, May 13th, 2015.

Seminars

Seminars hosted by the Jorge Ruas laboratory

October 2019 – Daniel P. Kelly

Visiting researcher: Daniel P. Kelly, M.D. Willard and Rhoda Ware Professor of Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases at the Perelman School of Medicine and the Director of the Cardiovascular Institute, Univ. of Pennsylvania (USA).

Poster: Seminar Daniel P. Kelly at KI in October 2019

May 2017 - Bruce M.Spiegleman

Visiting reseracher: Bruce Spiegelman, Ph.D. Stanley Korsmeyer Professor of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, USA.
Title of seminar: PGC-1alpha and the Pathways of Oxidative Metabolism: Basic Biology and Therapeutic Opportunities

Poster: Seminar Bruce M. Spiegelman at KI in May 2017

February 2017 - Pere Puigserver

Visiting researcher: Pere Puigserver, Ph.D. Professor of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
Title of seminar: Chemical approaches to metabolic diseases

Poster: Talk Pere Puigserver at KI in February 2017

November 2016 - Mechanisms of Gene Regulation in Metabolism

Visiting researcher: Pasi Tavi, Ph.D. Professor of Cardiovascular Cell Physiology at the University of Eastern Finland.
Title of seminar: Cardiac effects of PGC-1alpha

Visiting researcher: Jennifer Estall, Ph.D. Associate IRCM Research Professor at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute, Montreal, Canda.
Title of seminar: Sex, diet, and genes: Clues from liver and beta cells toward understanding risk factors of metabolic disease

Visiting researcher: Filipe Cabreiro, Ph.D. Sir Henry Dale Fellow at University College London, UK.
Title of seminar: Microbial regulation of host metabolism and lifespan

Poster: Mechanisms of Gene Regulation in Metabolism at KI in November 2016

November 2015 - Eleftheria-Maratos Flier

Visiting researcher: Terry Flier, M.D. Professor of Medicine at the Beth-Israel Deaconess Mecial Centre (BIDMC) and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
Title of seminar: Pleiotropic actions of FGF21 serve to integrate metabolism

Poster: seminar by Eleftheria-Maratos Flier at KI November 2015

September 2014 - Patrick Seale

Visiting researcher: Patrick Seale, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.
Title of seminar: Transcriptional control of brown and beige fat cell identity.

Poster: seminar by Patrick Seale at KI September 2014

September 2014 - Sven Enerbäck

Visiting researcher: Sven Enerbäck, M.D., Ph.D, Professor in medical genetics at the University of Gothenburg.
Title of seminar: Brown fat - of mice and men.

Poster: seminar by Sven Enerbäck at KI September 2014

November 2013 - Elsa Rodrigues

Visiting researcher: Elsa Rodrigues, Ph.D. Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon. Molecular and Cell Biology of Eukaryotic Systems.
Title of seminar: The private life of brain cholesterol.

November 2013 - Maria Joao Gama

Visiting researcher: Maria Joao Gama, Ph.D. Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon. Molecular and Cell Biology of Eukaryotic Systems.
Title of seminar: Transcriptional responses to oxidative stress: Role of KEAP1-NRF2-ARE pathway.

November 2013 - Leslie Leinwand

Visiting researcher: Leslie Leinwand, Ph.D. University of Colorado at Boulder. BioFrontiers Institute.
Title of seminar: Translating python biology to the mammalian heart.

Poster: seminar by Leslie Leinwand at KI November 2013

October 2013 - Anthony Rosenzweig

Visiting researcher: Anthony Rosenzweig, M.D., Director of Cardiovascular Research and Associate Chief of Cardiology at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC).
Title of seminar: Novel insights into cardioprotection and repair from models of exercise.

Poster: seminar by A Rosenzweig at KI October 2013

November 2012 - Evan Rosen

Visiting researcher: Evan Rosen, M.D., Ph.D. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
Title of seminar: An epigenomic basis for metabolic dysfunction: changes taken out of sequence.

Poster: seminar by Evan Rosen at KI November 2012

September 2012 - Nika Danial

Visiting researcher: Nika Danial, Ph.D, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.
Title of seminar: Apoptosis meets metabolism - A role for the Bcl-2 family protein BAD in nutrient sensing.

Poster: seminar by Nika Danial at KI september 2012

Keywords:
Cell and Molecular Biology Endocrinology and Diabetes Physiology and Anatomy
Content reviewer:
Jorge Ruas
22-03-2024