Research Initiative Award: Deciphering the Molecular Mechanisms Preceding the Aging Skeletal Muscle Phenotype

Bowie State University, Bowie MD

Investigators

Abstract

Research Initiation Awards provide support for junior and mid-career faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities who are building new research programs or redirecting and rebuilding existing programs. It is expected that the award helps to further the faculty member's research capability and effectiveness, improves research and teaching at the home institution, and involves undergraduate students in research experiences. The award to Bowie State University seeks to investigate the adult time-point in efforts of deciphering the biological mechanisms of the aging process. This project will increase the research capacity of the institution and provide research experiences for underrepresented minority students. This project is centered around the hypothesis that alterations in molecular mechanisms governing the homeostasis of skeletal muscle occur during the aging process and contribute to the aging phenotype that develops decades later. It is hypothesized that adult skeletal muscle will display a unique signaling profile and phenotype when unchallenged and when challenged with immobilization and injury, as compared to young and aged counterparts. To decipher the profile upon challenge, the adult skeletal muscle will be subjected to an injury or immobilization; microscopy will be utilized to assess the histological phenotype and Western blots will be employed to determine the signaling mechanisms. To decipher the profile when unchallenged, mice of various ages ranging from 2- to 12- months will be characterized using in vivo strength tests, microscopy, Western blots and RNAseq. This study will provide a characterization of molecular, histological and functional changes that occur during the aging process. Additionally, it seeks to support the notion that aging is an ongoing developmental process as opposed to an endpoint phenotype and therefore, intermediate timepoints are very informative and should be included in age-related studies. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.