Dr. Brandt Pence

Associate Professor of Health Sciences Dr. Brandt Pence’s Research in a Minute focuses on how metabolism impacts the immune system in aging and age-related diseases.

Health Sciences is currently working on a project funded by the National Institutes of Health to determine if a particular dysfunction in the mitochondria causes impaired immune responses during aging and if healthy mitochondria can be transplanted to improve immune function.

He is also working on an American Heart Association-funded project aimed at defining mitochondria-targeted treatments for atherosclerosis, the most common type of cardiovascular disease.

His ongoing research includes examining the impact of exercise on immune function, as well as the impact of various metabolites and metabolic inhibitors on inflammation.

Pence earned his PhD in exercise physiology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign before completing postdoctoral studies in nutrition at the same institution. His main field of focus is immunophysiology. He focuses on identifying how physiological stressors, such as diet and exercise, impact immune function. He is especially interested in inflammatory processes, such as wound healing, and how they can be regulated by metabolic changes in immune cells. In 2021, Pence was awarded a University Research Professorship.