Projects per year
Personal profile
Research interests
For the past 35 years, Dr. Charles Lang's research has focused on the mechanisms by which catabolic insults produce changes in glucose and protein metabolism in skeletal and cardiac muscle, and the role of immunomodulators in regulating muscle wasting and cardiac function.
The Lang laboratory has made seminal contributions to understanding the translational control exerted by growth factors and nutrients during catabolic states, including sepsis, burns, disuse atrophy, diabetes and alcohol misuse. Currently, funded by an MERIT Award from the NIH, the lab's research is aimed at better understanding the cellular mechanism by which chronic alcohol abuse and acute alcohol intoxication impair muscle protein balance.
The Lang lab's early work was the first to identify alcohol-induced decreases in mRNA translation and mTOR activity in muscle. Distinct from the protein synthetic changes produced by sepsis, which was also pursued in the past, the alcohol-induced changes were found to be independent of inflammatory cytokines and steroids. Moreover, although skeletal muscle and heart are both striated muscle, the data highlighted the different cellular mechanism of action by which alcohol adversely impacts these two tissues.
Recent work has focused on the ability of alcohol to impair leucine, insulin and IGF-I action in muscle as well as its ability to completely antagonize contraction-induced accretion of muscle protein synthesis. Lang's work has also documented that alcohol negatively interacts with other catabolic insults, such as disuse or aging, resulting in a synergistic interaction on muscle protein balance affecting both the synthetic and degradative side of the protein balance equation.
The Lang lab's studies employee in vivo approaches to assess the clinical and translational relevance, and in vitro systems of C1C12 myotubes so that mechanistic details can be better defined.
A second area of research interest involves sepsis-induced changes in muscle protein metabolism both synthetic and degradative pathways.
Teaching and educational interests
Dr. Charles Lang is Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and oversees educational activities related to the multiple doctoral, master’s and certificate programs at Penn State College of Medicine. He has been recognized as a Distinguished Educator for the breadth and depth of his experiences training the next generation of physicians, scientists and clinician-scientists. He was the director for two interdisciplinary courses in the medical curriculum and director for an intercampus graduate-level course in physiology. He is currently the co-director for Biomedical Research Ethics. He has served as director of the intercollege doctoral program in Molecular Medicine.
Dr. Lang has focused on training top graduate and medical students for careers in translational science as the past Program Director for T32 postdoctoral NIGMS-funded training grant and as director of the TL1 component for Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute. He has mentored postdoctoral fellows (MDs and PhDs), surgical residents and graduate students, many of whom have garnered F-awards from the NIH. He has served on mentoring committees for junior faculty with K-awards and through the Junior Faculty Development Program, and on the Executive Committee for the Physician Scientist Training Program.
Dr. Lang has been a member/chair of committees focused on curriculum development and review, academic progress, and LCME accreditation. He has been a permanent member/chair of multiple NIH study sections. He has been a reviewer for education and research training grants, including FIPSE and fellowships from the Shriner’s Hospital and NIGMS. He is the past editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Physiology: Endocrinology and Metabolism, and has given invited seminars on research and publication misconduct. Dr. Lang is devoted to the advancement of science though improving training and mentorship.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Education/Academic qualification
Postdoctoral Fellow, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center
1981 → 1984
PhD, Hahnemann University Medical College
1976 → 1981
External positions
Councilor, American Physiological Society
2017 → 2020
President, Shock Society
2014
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Projects
- 5 Finished
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Regulation of Nutrient Sensing and Muscle Wasting by Alcohol
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
4/1/12 → 3/31/20
Project: Research project
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Myocardial Protein Synthesis After Alcohol Intoxication
Lang, C. & Vary, T. C.
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
9/22/00 → 8/31/12
Project: Research project
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Cardiac myosin motor deficits are associated with left ventricular dysfunction in human ischemic heart failure
Rasicci, D. V., Ge, J., Milburn, G. N., Wood, N. B., Pruznak, A. M., Lang, C. H., Previs, M. J., Campbell, K. S. & Yengo, C. M., Feb 1 2023, In: American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology. 324, 2, p. H198-H209Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Glucose-Induced Activation of mTORC1 is Associated with Hexokinase2 Binding to Sestrins in HEK293T Cells
Roberson, P. A., Kincheloe, G. N., Welles, J. E., Xu, D., Sam-Clarke, M., MacLean, P. S., Lang, C. H., Jefferson, L. S. & Kimball, S. R., Apr 2023, In: Journal of Nutrition. 153, 4, p. 988-998 11 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
IMPORTANCE OF THE INNATE IMMUNE RESPONSE IN SKELETAL MUSCLE TO SEPSIS-INDUCED ALTERATIONS IN PROTEIN BALANCE
Lang, C. H., Feb 1 2023, In: Shock. 59, 2, p. 214-223 10 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
1 Scopus citations -
Enrichment of Newly Synthesized Proteins following treatment of C2C12 Myotubes with Endotoxin and Interferon-γ
Coleman, C. S., Stanley, B. A. & Lang, C. H., Jun 2022, In: Inflammation. 45, 3, p. 1313-1331 19 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
1 Scopus citations -
REDD1 interacts with AIF and regulates mitochondrial reactive oxygen species generation in the keratinocyte response to UVB
Feehan, R. P., Coleman, C. S., Ebanks, S., Lang, C. H. & Shantz, L. M., Aug 6 2022, In: Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. 616, p. 56-62 7 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access2 Scopus citations
Prizes
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Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching
Aprile, Bettina (Recipient), Aumiller, Betsy B. (Recipient), Berkey, Franklin (Recipient), Bonavia, Anthony (Recipient), Booth, Jennifer (Recipient), Brennan, Kristin (Recipient), Browning, Kirsteen (Recipient), Buchkovich, Nicholas (Recipient), Butt, Fauzia K. (Recipient), Carrel, Laura (Recipient), Choe, Angela (Recipient), Clarke, Sheila (Recipient), Coleman, Melissa (Recipient), Dalke, Katharine (Recipient), Devaraj, Tara (Recipient), Duryea, Stacey (Recipient), Enama, Joseph (Recipient), Evey, Loren (Recipient), Finch, Elizabeth (Recipient), Fischer, Michelle (Recipient), Gallo, Robert (Recipient), Gavigan, Patrick (Recipient), Ghaffari, Gisoo (Recipient), Go, Pauline (Recipient), Grana, Jennifer (Recipient), Greensmith, James (Recipient), Grogan, James (Recipient), Hajnal, Andras (Recipient), Helm, Matthew (Recipient), Hempel, Nadine (Recipient), Imamura, Fumiaki (Recipient), Jain, Rohit (Recipient), Jeganathan, Nimalan (Recipient), Kelle, Angela (Recipient), Kumar, Ashutosh (Recipient), Kwun, Hyun Jin (Recipient), Lang, Charles (Recipient), Lutzkanin, Andrew (Recipient), Martin, Kathryn (Recipient), McGarrity, Thomas (Recipient), McHale, Katie (Recipient), McLaughlin, Patricia (Recipient), Mormando, Charles (Recipient), Nguyen, Joseph (Recipient), Nickolich, Myles (Recipient), Ouyang, Tao (Recipient), Pachuski, Justin (Recipient), Polimera, Hyma (Recipient), Potochny, Evelyn (Recipient), Rakszawski, Kevin L. (Recipient), Reyes, Lilia (Recipient), Sankoorikal, Binu-john (Recipient), Shantz, Lisa (Recipient), Singh, Madhavi (Recipient), Songdej, Natthapol (Recipient), Spotts, Ryan (Recipient), Swigart, Alison (Recipient), Varner, Malina (Recipient), Verma, Navin (Recipient), Walter, Vonn (Recipient), Wang, Che-Yen "Joseph" (Recipient), Warfield, Dennis (Recipient), Wilson, Meghan N. (Recipient) & Hussein, Rezhan (Recipient), 2021
Prize
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Distinguished Educator Award
Kothari, Milind (Recipient), Lang, Charles (Recipient) & Verderame, Michael (Recipient), 2007
Prize