The University of Western Australia

Professor Paul Fournier

Professor
Exercise Physiology and Biochemistry

Contact details

Address

Exercise Physiology and Biochemistry
The University of Western Australia (M408)
35 Stirling Highway
CRAWLEY WA 6009
Australia

Phone

6488 1356

Fax

6488 1039

Email

paul.fournier@uwa.edu.au

Qualifications

BSc PhD Laval

Biography

After completing his undergraduate and postgraduate studies at Laval University, Quebec, Canada, and undertaking some postdoctoral research in the Biochemistry Department at the University of Western Australia, Dr Fournier joined the School of Sport Science, Exercise and Health at this University of which he has been an academic staff since the late nineties.

Key research

Dr Paul Fournier is an exercise biochemist and physiologist at the School of Sport Science, Exercise and Health at the University of Western Australia who has directed a number of research programmes in exercise biochemistry, diabetes research, evolutionary biology, and nutrition biochemistry involving over 26 postgraduate students, 45 Honours students, and a number of state, interstate and international collaborators. In particular, his research in recent years has focused on (a) the evolution of glycogen sparing mechanisms in vertebrates, (b) exercise as a therapeutic tool for the prevention of hypoglycaemia in type 1 diabetes mellitus, (c) dietary strategies to facilitate carbohydrate loading in athletes, and (d) the physiological and biomechanical basis of the evolution of bipedalism. As a result of his work, he has published extensively in high impact refereed journals, and has been an invited speakers at a number of national and international conferences.

Publications

Selected recent publications over the past five years

Fairchild, T., Armstrong, A.A., Rao, A., Liu, H. Lawrence, S. and P.A. Fournier (2004) Glycogen synthesis in muscle fibers during active recovery from intense exercise. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 34, 980-986.

Rubenson, J., Heliams, D.B., Lloyd, D.G. and P.A. Fournier (2004) Gait selection in the ostrich: mechanical and metabolic characteristics of walking and running with and without an aerial phase. Proc. Roy. Soc. London. 271(1543): 1091-1099.

Raja, G., Mills, S., Palmer, T.N. and P.A. Fournier (2004) Lactate availability is not the major factor limiting muscle glycogen repletion during recovery from an intense sprint in previously active fasted rats. J. exp. Biol 207: 4615-4621.

Guelfi, K.J., Jones, T.W. and P.A. Fournier (2005) The decline in blood glucose is less with intermittent compared to moderate exercise in individuals wit type 1 diabetes. Diabetes Care 28: 1289-1294.

Bussau, V.A., Jones, T.W. and P.A. Fournier (2006) The 10-s maximal sprint: A novel approach to counter an exercise-mediated fall in glycemia in individuals with type 1 diabetes. Diabetes Care. 29; 601-606.

Guelfi, K.J., Ratman, N., Smythe, G., Jones, T.W. and P.A. Fournier (2007) Effect of intermittent high-intensity compared to continuous moderate exercise on glucose production and utilization in individuals with type 1 diabetes. Am. J. Physiol.Endocrinol. Metab. 292: E865-870.

MacMahon, S.K., Ferreira, L.D., Ratnam, N., Davey, R., Young, L.M., Davis, E.A., Fournier, P.A. and T.W. Jones (2007). Glucose requirements to maintain euglycemia after moderate intensity afternoon exercise in adolescents with type 1 diabetes are increased in a biphasic manner. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 92: 963-968.

Rubenson, J., Heliam, D.B., Maloney, S.K., Withers, P.C., Lloyd, D.G. and P.A. Fournier (2007) Reappraisal of the comparative cost of human locomotion using gait-specific allometric analyses. J. Exp. Biol. 210: 3513-3524.

James, A., Barnes, P., Palmer, T.N. and P.A. Fournier (2008) Proglycogen and macroglycogen: Artifacts of glycogen extraction. Metabolism 57: 535-543.

Raja, G., Bräu, L., Palmer, T.N. and P.A. Fournier (2008) Fiber-specific responses of muscle glycogen repletion in fasted rats physically active during recovery from high-intensity physical exertion. Am. J. Physiol. 295: R633-641.

Funding received

As a testimony of the impact and quality of his collaborative research work, Dr Fournier has been highly successful in receiving funding from national (National Health Medical Research Council, Australian Research Council) as well as international competitive (International Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) research funding organisations, totaling in the vicinity of $4,500,000.00 over the past decade.

Languages

English and French

Memberships

Currently, Dr Fournier is a member of the Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the American Physiological Society, the American Diabetes Association, the Australian Diabetes Society, and the Australian and New Zealand Society for Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry, Sports Medicine Australia, and Higher Education Research and Development.

Honours and awards

Dr Fournier has won several University awards for outstanding teaching and research supervision. In particular, he has been the recipient in recent years of a UWA Excellence in Teaching Award for Individual Teaching, was nominated by his University for a Carrick Teaching Awards, and was finalist for a Premier’s Science Award for teaching. In recognition of his performance as a supervisor, Dr Fournier was recently awarded a UWA Excellence in Teaching Awards for Honours Research Supervision and the Faculty of Life and Physical Science's Postgraduate Research Supervision Award.

Teaching

Dr Fournier's current teaching responsibilities are to:

(a)develop and teach a third year unit entitled Bioenergetics in Exercise and Nutrition

(b)coordinate and co-teach the undergraduate unit Exercise prescription for Special Populations

Also, until recent years, Dr Fournier's teaching responsibilities included the following:

(b)teach until 2004 a compulsory second year unit entitled Exercise Physiology,


(c)provide a series of lectures on the role of exercise in the management of metabolic disorders for the postgraduate unit Medical Conditions and their Exercise Implications,

(d)introduce the Honours and postgraduate students of the School to the basics of biochemical analyses in a unit entitled Laboratory Practices in Exercise Physiology, and

(e)develop the unit Philosophical, Sociological and Ethical Issues in Exercise Sciences.

Research profile

Research profile and publications