Understanding how muscle senses stress, adapts, and wastes
Our laboratory investigates how skeletal muscle senses mechanical and metabolic stress, adapts to changing physiological demands, and why these adaptive mechanisms fail during aging, disease, disuse, and microgravity.
Skeletal muscle adapts continuously to changes in activity, nutrition, aging, and disease. Our laboratory investigates the cellular pathways that preserve muscle structure and function—and the mechanisms that drive muscle wasting.
By integrating molecular biology, advanced imaging, muscle physiology, human stem-cell models, animal models, and simulated microgravity, we aim to identify new strategies for protecting muscle health.
Muscle wasting and aging
How disuse, fasting, disease, and aging activate muscle catabolism.
Mechanosensing and muscle architecture
How membrane complexes and cytoskeletal networks sense mechanical stress.
Microgravity and extracellular communication
How unloading and extracellular vesicles alter muscle homeostasis.
Our goal is to uncover fundamental mechanisms that preserve muscle health and identify new therapeutic strategies to prevent muscle wasting.