About

Professor James Hagberg is a faculty member in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Maryland's School of Public Health. His research career has been focused on exercise and cardiovascular disease risk factors. His current research concentrates on circulating adult stem cells and their effects on endothelial cell and vascular function. Dr. Hagberg has contributed to understanding how exercise influences markers of endothelial integrity, microRNA levels, and vascular health, particularly in populations such as African-American women with metabolic syndrome and postmenopausal women. His work has involved investigating the impact of different exercise intensities on cardiovascular health markers and exploring sex-specific differences in blood-borne factors affecting endothelial cell functions. Throughout his career, he has been recognized with awards such as the University of Maryland Distinguished Scholar Teacher, the University System of Maryland Research Award, and the American College of Sports Medicine Citation Award. He has also served as a graduate mentor and has been involved in research that advances knowledge in cardiovascular health, stem cell biology, and exercise science.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Cardiology
• Computer Science
• Internal medicine
• Political Science
• Endocrinology
• Pathology
• Psychology
• Law
• Library science

Selected publications

• The unfortunately long life of some retracted biomedical research publications

  Journal of Applied Physiology · 2020 · 20 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Political Science
  • Medicine

  The scientific misconduct and fraud case of a noted exercise physiology researcher was concluded ~15 yr ago, and one the of the results was the retraction of 10 published manuscripts. However, based on a number of comparisons to that same author's and another investigator's citation histories for similar articles, the citation histories for these retracted articles appear to not have been affected whatsoever in the subsequent 15 yr.

  DOI

• Changes in circulating microRNA and arterial stiffness following high‐intensity interval and moderate intensity continuous exercise

  Physiological Reports · 2020 · 21 citations

  • Medicine
  • Cardiology
  • Internal medicine

  High-intensity interval (HII) exercise elicits distinct vascular responses compared to a matched dose of moderate intensity continuous (MOD) exercise. However, the acute effects of HII compared to MOD exercise on arterial stiffness are incompletely understood. Circulating microRNAs (ci-miRs) may contribute to the vascular effects of exercise. We sought to determine exercise intensity-dependent changes in ci-miR potentially underlying changes in arterial stiffness. Ten young, healthy men underwent well-matched, 30-min HII and MOD exercise bouts. RT-qPCR was used to determine the levels of seven vascular-related ci-miRs in serum obtained immediately before and after exercise. Arterial stiffness measures including carotid to femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV), carotid arterial compliance and β-stiffness, and augmentation index (AIx and AIx75) were taken before, 10min after and 60min after exercise. Ci-miR-21-5p, 126-3p, 126-5p, 150-5p, 155-5p, and 181b-5p increased after HII exercise (p < .05), while ci-miR-150-5p and 221-3p increased after MOD exercise (p = .03 and 0.056). One hour after HII exercise, cf-PWV trended toward being lower compared to baseline (p = .056) and was significantly lower compared to 60min after MOD exercise (p = .04). Carotid arterial compliance was increased 60min after HII exercise (p = .049) and was greater than 60min after MOD exercise (p = .02). AIx75 increased 10 min after both HII and MOD exercise (p < .05). There were significant correlations between some of the exercise-induced changes in individual ci-miRs and changes in cf-PWV and AIx/AIx75. These results support the hypotheses that arterial stiffness and ci-miRs are altered in an exercise intensity-dependent manner, and ci-miRs may contribute to changes in arterial stiffness.

  DOI

• Circulating microparticle concentrations across acute and chronic cardiovascular disease conditions

  Physiological Reports · 2020 · 17 citations

  • Medicine
  • Internal medicine
  • Cardiology

  Concentrations of different circulating microparticles (MPs) may have clinical and physiological relevance to cardiovascular disease pathologies. PURPOSE: To quantify plasma concentrations of CD31+/CD42b-, CD62E+, and CD34+ MPs across healthy individuals and those with coronary artery disease (CAD) or acute cardiovascular events (non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI)). Fasted blood was obtained from CAD patients (n = 10), NSTEMI patients (n = 13), and healthy older men (n = 15) 60-75 years old. METHODS: CD31+/CD42b-, CD62E+, and CD34+ MPs were isolated from plasma and quantified using flow cytometry. Relationships between MP subtypes, fasting blood lipids, blood glucose, blood pressure, body mass index, and total number of medications were assessed. RESULTS: Concentrations of CD31+/CD42b- MPs were significantly lower in CAD and NSTEMI subjects compared with healthy individuals (p = .02 and .003, respectively). No differences between groups were found for CD62E+ or CD34+ MPs (p > .05 for both). Surprisingly, among all variables assessed, only CD62E+ MP concentrations were positively correlated with triglyceride levels (p = .012) and inversely correlated with SBP (p = .03). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings provide support for the use of different MP subtypes, specifically CD31+/CD42b- MPs, as a potential biomarker of cardiovascular disease. Importantly, results from this study should be looked at in adjunct to previous MP work in CVD conditions as a way of highlighting the complex interactions of variables such as comorbid conditions and medications on MP concentrations.

  DOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R21HL098810

  NIH · $391k · 2013

• NIH Grant R21CA165067

  NIH · $373k · 2015

• NIH Grant T32AG000268

  NIH · $2.6M · 2017

• University of Maryland Summer Training and Research (STAR) Program

  NIH · $1.6M · 2008–2027

• NIH Grant R01AG015389

  NIH · $1.8M · 2004

Frequent coauthors

• Andrew P. Goldberg

  Parker University

  195 shared

• Steve D. McCole

  147 shared

• Robert E. Ferrell

  145 shared

• Dana A. Phares

  University of Maryland, College Park

  121 shared

• Geoffrey E. Moore

  106 shared

• Donald R. Dengel

  University of Minnesota System

  89 shared

• Alan R. Shuldiner

  Regeneron (United States)

  89 shared

• Edward P. Weiss

  Saint Louis University

  89 shared

Awards & honors

• University of Maryland Distinguished Scholar Teacher
• University System of Maryland Research Award
• American College of Sports Medicine Citation Award
• University of Maryland Graduate Mentor of the Year
• University of Maryland Life Sciences Inventor of the Year

Similar researchers at University of Maryland, College Park

• Sankar Das Sarmah-141
• Arie Kruglanskih-106
• John C. Haltiwangerh-99
• Matthew C. Hansenh-97
• Michel Wedelh-85