Katrien De Bock

At a glance

• Katrien De Bock (1980) is a Belgian exercise physiologist and full professor at ETH Zurich, where she leads the Laboratory of Exercise and Health and heads the Department of Health Sciences and Technology.
• She studied rehabilitation sciences and earned her PhD at KU Leuven in 2007 with research on muscle metabolism during exercise in the fasted state.
• As a postdoc with Peter Carmeliet (VIB-KU Leuven), she showed in Cell (2013) that endothelial cells, which line blood vessels, run mainly on glycolysis, and that blocking the enzyme PFKFB3 slows the formation of new vessels.
• She has been a professor in Zurich since 2015, and a full professor since 2023.
• Her lab studies how blood vessels and muscle communicate: how endothelial cells adapt their metabolism when new capillaries grow through training or after a blocked artery, and whether muscle metabolism helps regulate muscle mass.
• For longevity, her work matters because a well-perfused muscle receives oxygen and nutrients more effectively, which counts for endurance and muscle health later in life.
• Takeaway: regular endurance training grows new capillaries in your muscles; it is one of the ways your fitness improves.