Diego Montiel Rojas

About Diego Montiel Rojas

Diego Montiel Rojas is a lecturer in exercise physiology in the School of Health Sciences, at the Division of Sports Science. He belongs to the research group EPSM (Exercise Physiology and Sport Medicine).

He earned his Degree in Physical Activity and Sport Sciences (EQF level 7), with a specialisation in sport high performance in 2007 at the University of Granada (Spain). He is also knowledgeable in sport management and a qualified physical education teacher. He obtained his research-orientated MSc in Sports Physiology and Medicine in 2016 at Örebro University (Sweden) with a thesis entitled “The effect of 1-year resistance training on the exercise-induced changes in the gene expression of telomere regulatory factors in skeletal muscle of healthy old men”. In 2022, he obtained his PhD (University of Örebro, Sweden) with a thesis entitled “Diet and sarcopenia risk in community-dwelling older European adults”.

Research

His main research interest focuses on the biology of skeletal muscle ageing and the role of modifiable lifestyle factors, such as healthy diet and physical activity, in the prevention and management of sarcopenia. He is also involved in studies addressing adaptations to exercise in the context of health and sport performance (exercise interventions, recovery strategies, etc.) using an integrative approach, i.e. from physical function to molecular and cellular mechanisms, which has broadened his range of scientific and technical expertise over the years.

He is the laboratory manager of the Sport Science Platform (exercise physiology, performance and molecular assessments).

Teaching

His teaching primarily focuses on physiological and molecular assessment methods, statistics, research methods in sport sciences, training planning and periodisation, and sport nutrition. He also supervises students at bachelor, master and doctoral levels.

Diego is also the Programme Coordinator for the Training program 180 credits, where the students are trained to work in diverse areas of health and fitness, from recreational training to high-performance sport.