Our people

Dr Jamie Whitfield

Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Exercise and Nutrition Research Program

Areas of expertise: skeletal muscle physiology; exercise physiology; metabolism; exercise science; nutrition and exercise performance

HDR Supervisor accreditation status: Not accredited

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-8961-8872

Phone: +61 03 9230 8252

Email: jamie.whitfield@acu.edu.au

Location: ACU Melbourne Campus

Dr Jamie Whitfield is a recent PhD graduate with a research focus in the area of skeletal muscle metabolism and physiology. Jamie completed his BA (Honors Specialization) in Kinesiology at the University of Western Ontario, in London, Ontario (Canada) in 2011 where he gained an interest in whole-body exercise physiology. It was this interest that led him to return to his hometown of Guelph, Ontario (Canada) and pursue postgraduate training in the field of skeletal muscle metabolism at the University of Guelph. Jamie was awarded his PhD in June 2017 after defending his thesis entitled “Skeletal muscle mitochondrial and cytosolic metabolic responses to dietary and genetic manipulations”.

Jamie joined Australian Catholic University as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in 2017. The goal of his work at the Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research is to utilise a variety of research models to gain a better understanding of how dietary and exercise interventions can alter skeletal muscle metabolism; and can therefore be used to improve outcomes along the health spectrum – from pathology to performance.

Select publications

• Boorsma, R. K., Whitfield, J., & Spriet, L. L. (2014). Beetroot juice supplementation does not improve performance of elite 1500-m runners. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 46(12), 2326–2334.
• Gerling, C. J., Whitfield, J., Mukai, K., & Spriet, L. L. (2014). Variable effects of 12 weeks of omega-3 supplementation on resting skeletal muscle metabolism. Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism, 39(9), 1083–1091.
• Herbst, E. A. F., Paglialunga, S., Gerling, C., Whitfield, J., Mukai, K., Chabowski, A., … Holloway, G. P. (2014). Omega-3 supplementation alters mitochondrial membrane composition and respiration kinetics in human skeletal muscle. Journal of Physiology, 592(6), 1341–1352.
• Monaco, C., Whitfield, J., Jain, S. S., Spriet, L. L., Bonen, A., & Holloway, G. P. (2015). Activation of AMPKα2 is not required for mitochondrial FAT/CD36 accumulation during exercise. PLoS ONE, 10(5), E0126122.
• Spriet, L. L., & Whitfield, J. (2015). Taurine and skeletal muscle function. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care, 18(1), 96–101.
• Whitfield, J., Ludzki, A., Heigenhauser, G. J. F., Senden, J. M. G., Verdijk, L. B., van Loon, L. J. C., … Holloway, G. P. (2016). Beetroot juice supplementation reduces whole body oxygen consumption but does not improve indices of mitochondrial efficiency in human skeletal muscle. Journal of Physiology, 594(2), 421–435.
• Whitfield, J., Gamu, D., Heigenhauser, G. J. F., Van Loon, L. J. C., Spriet, L. L., Tupling, A. R., & Holloway, G. P. (2017). Beetroot juice increases human muscle force without changing Ca2+-handling proteins. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 49(10), 2016–2024.
• Whitfield, J., Paglialunga, S., Smith, B. K., Miotto, P. M., Simnett, G., Robson, H. L., … Holloway, G. P. (2017). Ablating the protein TBC1D1 impairs Contraction-induced sarcolemmal glucose transporter 4 redistribution but not insulin-mediated responses in rats. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 292(40), 16653–16664.
• Barbeau, P.-A., Holloway, T. M., Whitfield, J., Baechler, B. L., Quadrilatero, J., van Loon, L. J. C., … Holloway, G. P. (2017). α-Linolenic acid and exercise training independently, and additively, decrease blood pressure and prevent diastolic dysfunction in obese Zucker rats. The Journal of Physiology, 595(13), 4351–4364.          
• Castellani, L. N., Peppler, W. T., Sutton, C. D., Whitfield, J., Charron, M. J., & Wright, D. C. (2017). Glucagon receptor knockout mice are protected against acute olanzapine-induced hyperglycemia. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 82, 38–45.
• Janzen, N. R., Whitfield, J., & Hoffman, N. J. (2018). Interactive Roles for AMPK and Glycogen from Cellular Energy Sensing to Exercise Metabolism. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 19(11), 3344.
• Stellingwerff, T., Bovim, I. M., & Whitfield, J. (2018). Contemporary Nutrition Interventions to Optimize Performance in Middle-Distance Runners. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 29(2), 106–116.
• Gamble, A. S., Bigg, J. L., Vermeulen, T. F., Boville, S. M., Eskedjian, G. S., Jannas-Vela, S., … Spriet, L. L. (2019). Estimated Sweat Loss, Fluid and CHO Intake, and Sodium Balance of Male Major Junior, AHL, and NHL Players During On-Ice Practices. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 1(Ahead of Print), 1–8.

Accolades and awards

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (2020-2022)

International journal review panel

American Journal of Physiology – Endocrinology and Metabolism
Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism
Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism
International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism
Journal of Physiology

Public engagement

• @jwhitfie