University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center · Biomedical EngineeringMuscle Metabolism Lab
Jae Mo Park · Dallas, Texas
Research Focus
Dr. Jae Mo Park's lab focuses on understanding muscular dystrophy, specifically Duchenne and Becker muscular dystrophies, which are genetic disorders that affect muscle strength and heart function. The lab is developing new non-invasive imaging techniques using MRI to identify early metabolic changes in patients, which could lead to better monitoring and treatment options for these conditions. By studying how energy is used in skeletal muscle and the heart, the lab aims to create biomarkers that can help track the progression of muscular dystrophy and improve patient care.
muscular dystrophymetabolic imagingbiomarkersMRIheart functioninflammationmitochondrial dysfunctionpyruvateskeletal muscleDuchenne muscular dystrophy
Research Aims
3AIM 01Develop elevated lactate production as a biomarker for myocarditis and skeletal muscle inflammation.
AIM 02Create limited bicarbonate production as a biomarker of mitochondrial dysfunction.
AIM 03Assess early changes in lactate-to-bicarbonate ratio for predicting muscular dystrophy-associated myopathy.
Skills the Lab Values
MRI imagingbiochemical assaysclinical research techniquesdata analysismetabolic profilingtissue samplingpatient monitoringhyperpolarized carbon-13muscle physiologystatistical software
Output against the department
Publications100bottom 17% of dept.491st of 595
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations1.2kbottom 7% of dept.551st of 595
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.