Jason Martin

Current Position:

Scientist

Research Interests:

I am interested in understanding the influence of lifestyle factors (e.g., physical activity, nutrition), have upon brain structures, metabolic health in disease (as example: obesity, diabetes, insulin action), and the impacts on behaviour.
Current research interests include:

• Importance of brain structures in obesity and diabetes: the interaction between behaviour, habits, and physical activity.
• The relationship between brain, gut, exercise, and behaviour.
• The neurobiological basis of stress-related disorders such as depression.

Previously, at the APC Microbiome Ireland, I focussed on understanding the interaction between brain gut & microbiome axis and exercise, and how these mediate behaviour in stress related disorders (e.g., trptophan metabolism, inflammation, immune response).

Previous research has been: exercise physiology and performance, ageing, decision making, perception-action, motor control, reaching and prehension with fMRI, exercise and cognitive function.

Selected Publications:

See publications also through researchgate or Orcid-ID.

• Leacy et al. (2022). Variation within the visually evoked neurovascular coupling response of the posterior cerebral artery is not influenced by age or sex. Journal of Applied Physiology. (https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00292.2021)
• Maurer et al. (2022). Effects of a 6-Month Aerobic Exercise Intervention on Mood and Amygdala Functional Plasticity in Young Untrained Subjects. IJERPH. (https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19106078)
• Gheorghe et al., (2021), Investigating causality with fecal microbiota transplantation in rodents: applications, recommendations and pitfalls, Gut Microbes. (https://doi.org/10.1080/19490976.2021.1941711).
• Grunberg et al. (2021). The effect of exercise interventions on inflammatory markers in major depressive disorder: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis. HRB Open Res (https://doi.org/10.12688/hrbopenres.13240.1).
• Martin et al (2020). Exercising to control signs and symptoms of stress and depression. J Epidemiol Community Health. (https://jech.bmj.com/content/74/Suppl_1/A65.1)
• Martin et al. (2020), Exercising control over signs and symptoms of stress and depression. The FASEB Journal. (https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.2020.34.s1.08687).
• Schmitt et al. (2020). Affective Modulation after High-Intensity Exercise Is Associated with Prolonged Amygdalar-Insular Functional Connectivity Increase. Neural Plasticity. (https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/7905387).
• Schmitt et al. (2019). Effects of fitness level and exercise intensity on pain and mood responses. Eur J Pain. (https://doi.org/10.1002/ejp.1508).
• Cryan et al. (2019). The Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis.  Physiological Reviews.  (https://doi.org/10.1152/physrev.00018.2018).
• Gheorghe et al. (2019). Focus on the essentials: tryptophan metabolism and the microbiome-gut-brain axis. Curr. Opinion in Pharmacology. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coph.2019.08.004).
• Schmitt et al. (2019). Modulation of Distinct Intrinsic Resting State Brain Networks by Acute Exercise Bouts of Differing Intensity. Brain Plasticity. (https://doi.org/10.3233/BPL-190081).
• Schmitt et al. (2019). Effects of Low and High Intensity Exercise on Emotional Face-Processing: A fMRI Face-Matching Study. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. (https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsz042).
• Martin et al. (2019). Disentangling motor planning and motor execution in unmedicated de novo Parkinson’s disease patients: An fMRI study. Neuroimage Clinical. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2019.101784).
• Pensel et al. (2018). Executive control processes are associated with individual fitness outcomes following regular exercise training… Scientific Reports. (https://doi.org/ 10.1038/s41598-018-23308-3)
• Hu et al. (2017). A Reduction in Delay Discounting by Using Episodic Future Imagination and the Association with Episodic Memory Capacity. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. (https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00663).
• Martin et al. (2015). Age and Grip Strength Predict Hand Dexterity in Adults. PLOS One. (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0117598).
• Martin et al. (2014). Revisiting the cortical system for peripheral reaching at the parieto-occipital junction. Cortex. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2014.11.012).