Dominic D'Agostino
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Through Physiology
Early life and education
D'Agostino received a Bachelor of Science in biological sciences and nutrition science from Rutgers University in 1998. He then received a PhD in physiology and neuroscience from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in 2004.
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Career
After completing his doctorate, D'Agostino undertook a postdoctoral fellowship in neuroscience at the Boonshoft School of Medicine of Wright State University in Ohio. In 2006, he moved his research program to the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida as a postdoctoral fellow funded by the Office of Naval Research (ONR). He subsequently joined the USF faculty of the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, where he became a tenured associate professor. He also holds a research appointment at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition.
D'Agostino participated in NASA's NEEMO 22 undersea habitat mission as part of a USF/IHMC research team, and provided topside crew support for NEEMO 23. His postdoctoral research was supported by the Office of Naval Research fellowship, and in 2019 he was named a Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors.
Research
D'Agostino's research has investigated metabolic approaches to conditions including central nervous system oxygen toxicity (seizures), epilepsy, neurodegenerative disease, brain cancer, and metastatic cancer. He has also investigated the physiological effects and potential applications of the ketogenic diet, ketone bodies, and exogenous ketone supplementation. With support from the Office of Naval Research, D'Agostino has studied exogenous ketones in relation to seizures caused by central nervous system oxygen toxicity, a risk associated with exposure to high partial pressures of oxygen during diving. In a 2013 study in rats, D'Agostino and colleagues reported that administration of a ketone ester delayed seizures during exposure to hyperbaric oxygen.
D'Agostino is also an inventor on patents concerning ketone-based technologies. D'Agostino has also been associated with the popularization of ketogenic diets outside academia.
D'Agostino has communicated his research through public lectures, including a TEDx talk in 2013. He has also served as principal investigator of a University of South Florida study examining metabolic health using continuous glucose monitoring.