Muscle and Exercise
The characteristics of skeletal muscle, by virtue of its mass and metabolic capacity, are major determinant of whole body metabolism, exercise performance and functional capacity. The Muscle and Exercise Physiology Research Cluster is interested in the factors that influence the “quality” and “quantity” of skeletal muscle and how these characteristics are affected by exercise, injury, disease states and various nutritional and pharmacological interventions.
Professor Mark Hargreaves oversees a research group with a major focus on the regulation of skeletal muscle carbohydrate metabolism during exercise, with implications for health and human performance. Specific interests at present are the regulation of skeletal muscle GLUT4 expression in response to acute and chronic exercise and glycogen-associated proteins in human skeletal muscle.
Research in the Basic and Clinical Myology laboratory, led by Professor Gordon Lynch, is focussed on utilising therapeutic techniques for ameliorating the muscle wasting and weakness associated with numerous conditions, including: Duchenne muscular dystrophy, disuse atrophy, ageing and muscle regeneration following injury/surgery.
Dr Glenn McConell’s group focuses on examination of the regulation of skeletal muscle glucose uptake during exercise and examination of the factors regulating the increase in muscle mitochondria with exercise training. They are particularly interested in the potential role of nitric oxide and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in these processes. These studies, in humans, mice, rats and cell culture have implications for type 2 diabetes.