John Spitsbergen

Dr. John Spitsbergen is a professor of biological sciences at Western Michigan University.

The long-term goal of his research is to understand the regulation of neurotrophic factor expression in target tissues of the peripheral nervous system (blood vessels, cardiac muscle and skeletal muscle) and to determine the consequences of altered neurotrophic factor expression with aging and disease.

His projects include:

• Examining changes in neurotrophic factor expression and motor innervation in skeletal muscle following exercise training in rats.
• Examining changes in neurotrophic factor expression and autonomic innervation in cardiovascular tissues with development of high blood pressure.