dr. Richie Goulding

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Physiology

Assistant Professor, Amsterdam Movement Sciences, AMS - Musculoskeletal Health

Personal information

I am currently Assistant Professor of Exercise and Muscle Physiology within the Department of Human Movement Sciences at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. I obtained my PhD in 2019 from Liverpool Hope University, where I examined the physiological determinants of the upper limit for sustainable oxidative metabolism in health and type 1 diabetes.

Following my PhD, I was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences, and in 2019 I moved to Kobe, Japan, to pursue postdoctoral research on control of local oxygen delivery and utilization during exercise using time-resolved near-infrared spectroscopy.

In 2020, along with Dr. Rob Wüst, I was awarded a grant from the European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes, which enabled me to pursue further postdoctoral research at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Between 2020-2023, I worked on various projects surrounding the relationship between skeletal muscle mitochondrial health, exercise, and chronic diseases such as multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, and long COVID, as well as in healthy ageing.

Since 2023 I have been a faculty member, where I contribute to teaching on the topics of exercise and muscle physiology, as well as the supervision of PhD, MSc, and BSc research projects. My research group investigates the physiological and bioenergetic mechanisms underpinning exercise tolerance in health, ageing, disuse, and disease, with a particular focus on the oxygen transport and utilization systems. My major ongoing projects include the relationship between ageing and skeletal muscle mitochondrial alterations, exercise limitations in ME/CFS, and the pathophysiological bases of post-exertional malaise. I have been awarded several grants from major funding bodies, including NWO, ZonMw, JSPS, and EFSD.

Research

The main focus of my research group is understanding the bioenergetic and physiological limits of human performance. In particular, I am interested in how the oxygen transport and utilization systems govern skeletal muscle bioenergetics and exercise tolerance across health, ageing, disuse, and disease.

To achieve this, we take an integrative and multi-scale approach that spans the full biological hierarchy: from molecular regulation (e.g., proteomics) and single cell analyses (e.g., electron microscopy), to tissue-level (i.e., high-resolution mitochondrial respirometry) and whole-body physiological assessments (i.e., indirect calorimetry, CPET, performance testing). Collectively, our goal is to understand how derangements in these systems contribute to exercise limitation in chronic disease and ageing on the one hand, and how adaptations in these systems support elite performance on the other.

My major ongoing projects include: 1) the impact of ageing on skeletal muscle oxygen transport and mitochondrial bioenergetics; 2) the pathophysiological bases of exercise limitations in ME/CFS; 3) muscle mitochondrial adaptations to exercise training in type 1 diabetes; and 4) the relationship between in vivo muscle mechanics and energetics.

Teaching

Currently, I teach on the following courses:

Training, Ageing, and Disuse (MSc Human Movement Sciences, course co-ordinator)

Physiology of Performance in Extreme Environments (MSc Human Movement Sciences, course co-ordinator)

Applied Exercise Physiology (BSc Human Movement Sciences, course contributor)

In addition, I am active in supervising BSc and MSc research internships and literature reviews.

Ancillary activities

No ancillary activities

Ancillary activities are updated daily