How everything started

Alongside my daily work, I had the extraordinary opportunity to study the physiological profile of the world-record holder for the 200-meter sprint in the 90+ age category. This experience is invaluable to my research, as it allows us to explore how lifelong training shapes muscle function and overall physical performance with aging.

When I first met her, she was 91 years old. She held—and still holds—the world record for her age group for the 200 meters, and she graciously agreed to join our project. During her visit to my lab, we assessed her cardiovascular function, muscle strength and power, and muscle oxygen utilization. She even agreed to a muscle biopsy, giving us an unprecedented look inside the tissue that has powered her sprinting for nearly a century. I conducted in vivo assessments in 2024 at my previous institution, and I am now performing ex vivo experiments on her muscle samples here at UW–Madison. This unique opportunity became possible through the collection of a muscle biopsy, that allows me to do additional analyses to uncover how her muscles have adapted over a lifetime of training.

The central question guiding my work was simple: How does lifelong physical activity shape the human body over nearly a century of life?

Dr. Colosio's fellowship is under the supervision of Dr. Christopher W. Sundberg in the Integrative Muscle Physiology & Energetics Laboratory at UW-Madison's School of Medicine & Public Health.