Research in the exercise sciences: Where do we go from here?

The goal of this article is to provide a perspective on how research involv ing the acute and chronic effects of exercise (referred to as "exercise sci ences") on the structure and function of organs systems will evolve in the next century. Within the last 30 years, exercise-related research has rapid ly transitioned from an organ to a subcellular/molecular focus. Thus future research will continue to be heavily influenced by molecular biology tools , fueled by both emerging technologies (e.g., "gene-chip microarrays") desi gned to dissect gene function on a macro scale as well as by the completion of the human genome project in which the similar to 80,000 genes comprisin g humans will be completely sequenced. These successes will drive the emerg ing fields of functional genomics (the dissecting of a gene's identity and function) and proteomics (the study of the properties of proteins). Funding levels at the National Institutes of Health will likely increase in order to expand these emerging fields as well as provide avenues for translating fundamental knowledge into solving the complexities of a number of degenera tive diseases influenced heavily by activity/inactivity factors such as car diopulmonary disease, diabetes, obesity, and the debilitating disorders ass ociated with aging. Thus there are many challenges facing future exercise s cientists who must harness the new technologies and take an aggressive stan ce in bringing this important field to the forefront.