About

Shlomit Radom-Aizik, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at UC Irvine and serves as the Executive Director of the Pediatric Exercise and Genomics Research Center. Her work focuses on advancing exercise medicine through clinical and laboratory research that utilizes genomic and epigenetic approaches. She aims to uncover the molecular mechanisms underlying the health effects of exercise and training in both health and disease, with a particular interest in the intersection of functional genomics and exercise physiology. Dr. Aizik completed her PhD in Physiology and Pharmacology at Tel Aviv University, Israel, with her dissertation conducted in the Functional Genomics Unit at Sheba Medical Center. Her research endeavors include promoting community partnerships to encourage physical activity across the lifespan. She is a principal investigator on multiple NIH grants, including projects that aim to transform exercise testing and physical activity assessment in children and to develop molecular maps of exercise responses in the pediatric population. Her contributions to the field are recognized through her involvement in professional societies such as ACSM, NASPEM, ECSS, and ISEI.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Internal medicine
• Cardiology
• Statistics
• Mathematics
• Immunology
• Physics

Selected publications

• Dynamics of gas exchange and heart rate signal entropy in standard cardiopulmonary exercise testing during critical periods of growth and development

  Physiological Reports · 2024 · 2 citations

  • Medicine
  • Cardiology
  • Internal medicine

  CPET phases by 14.10% and 23.79%, respectively, p < 0.01. In females, late-pubertal had 17.6% lower HR SampEn compared to early-pubertal participants (p < 0.05). Breath-by-breath gas exchange and HR data from CPET are amenable to SampEn analysis that leads to novel insight into physiological responses to work intensity, and sex and maturational effects.

  DOI

• Signal Variability Comparative Analysis of Healthy Early- and Late-Pubertal Children during Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing

  Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise · 2023 · 5 citations

  • Medicine
  • Cardiology
  • Internal medicine

  PURPOSE: The kinetics of physiological responses to exercise have traditionally been characterized by estimating exponential equation parameters using iterative best-fit techniques of heart rate (HR) and gas exchange (respiratory rate, oxygen uptake (V̇O 2 ), carbon dioxide output, and ventilation). In this study, we present a novel approach to characterizing the maturation of physiological responses to exercise in children by accounting for response uncertainty and variability. METHODS: Thirty-seven early-pubertal (17 females, 20 males) and 44 late-pubertal (25 females, 19 males) participants performed three multiple brief exercise bouts (MBEB). MBEB consisted of ten 2-min bouts of cycle ergometry at constant work rate interspersed by 1-min rest. Exercise intensity was categorized as low, moderate, or high, corresponding to 40%, 60%, and 80% of peak work rate, and performed in random order on 3 separate days. We evaluated sample entropy (SampEn), approximate entropy, detrended fluctuation analysis, and average absolute local variability of HR and gas exchange. RESULTS: SampEn of HR and gas-exchange responses to MBEB was greater in early- compared with late-pubertal participants (e.g., V̇O 2 early-pubertal vs late-pubertal, 1.70 ± 0.023 vs 1.41 ± 0.027; P = 2.97 × 10 -14 ), and decreased as MBEB intensity increased (e.g., 0.37 ± 0.01 HR for low-intensity compared with 0.21 ± 0.014 for high intensity, P = 3.56 × 10 -17 ). Females tended to have higher SampEn than males (e.g., 1.61 ± 0.025 V̇O 2 for females vs 1.46 ± 0.031 for males, P = 1.28 × 10 -4 ). Average absolute local variability was higher in younger participants for both gas exchange and HR (e.g., early-pubertal vs late-pubertal V̇O 2 , 17.48 % ± 0.56% vs 10.24 % ± 0.34%; P = 1.18 × 10 -21 ). CONCLUSIONS: The greater entropy in signal response to a known, quantifiable exercise perturbation in the younger children might represent maturation-dependent, enhanced competition among physiological controlling mechanisms that originate at the autonomic, subconscious, and cognitive levels.

  DOI

• SARS-CoV-2 Acquisition and Immune Pathogenesis Among School-Aged Learners in Four Diverse Schools

  medRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2021 · 5 citations

  • Medicine
  • Immunology
  • Internal medicine

  BACKGROUND: Understanding SARS-CoV-2 infection in children is necessary to reopen schools safely. METHODS: We measured SARS-CoV-2 infection in 320 learners [10.5 ± 2.1(sd); 7-17 y.o.] at four diverse schools with either remote or on-site learning. Schools A and B served low-income Hispanic learners; school C served many special-needs learners; and all provided predominantly remote instruction. School D served middle- and upper-income learners, with predominantly on-site instruction. Testing occurred in the fall (2020), and 6-8 weeks later during the fall-winter surge (notable for a tenfold increase in COVID-19 cases). Immune responses and mitigation fidelity were also measured. RESULTS: We found SARS-CoV-2 infections in 17 learners only during the surge. School A (97% remote learners) had the highest infection (10/70, 14.3%, p<0.01) and IgG positivity rates (13/66, 19.7%). School D (93% on-site learners) had the lowest infection and IgG positivity rates (1/63, 1.6%). Mitigation compliance [physical distancing (mean 87.4%) and face covering (91.3%)] was remarkably high at all schools. Documented SARS-CoV-2-infected learners had neutralizing antibodies (94.7%), robust IFN-γ+ T cell responses, and reduced monocytes. CONCLUSION: Schools can implement successful mitigation strategies across a wide range of student diversity. Despite asymptomatic to mild SARS-CoV-2 infection, children generate robust humoral and cellular immune responses. KEY POINTS: Successful COVID-19 mitigation was implemented across a diverse range of schools.School-associated SARS-CoV-2 infections reflect regional rates rather than remote or on-site learning.Seropositive school-aged children with asymptomatic to mild SARS-CoV-2 infections generate robust humoral and cellular immunity.

  DOI

• SARS-CoV-2 vaccine testing and trials in the pediatric population: biologic, ethical, research, and implementation challenges

  Pediatric Research · 2021 · 56 citations

  • Medicine
  • Virology
  • Pediatrics
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC): Mapping the Dynamic Responses to Exercise

  Cell · 2020 · 286 citations

  • Biology
  • Bioinformatics
  • Medicine
  DOI

Frequent coauthors

• Dan M. Cooper

  7 shared

• Ronen Bar‐Yoseph

  Rambam Health Care Campus

  4 shared

• Hye‐Won Shin

  Hanyang University

  3 shared

• Fadia Haddad

  University of California, Irvine

  3 shared

• Frank Zaldivar

  University of California, Riverside

  3 shared

• Casey M. Schreiber

  Children's Hospital of Orange County

  3 shared

• Steven C. Cramer

  2 shared

• Kim D. Lu

  University of California, Irvine

  2 shared

Awards & honors

• UCI SOM Outstanding Mid-Career Faculty Clinical Research Awa…

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