Current Projects and Grants
Mitochondrial Bioenergetics and Neurocognitive Behavior
Project Description: Exploring the role of mitochondrial bioenergetics on hippocampal & hypothalamic neurocognitive function in response to diet and brain injury.
Funding Sources: Alliance for Regenerative Rehabilitation Research & Training, University of Georgia Obesity Initiative
Project Collaborators: Dr. Emily Noble and Dr. Frank West
Related Publications:
- Sexually dimorphic effects of a Western Diet on brain bioenergetics and neurocognitive function
- The role of exerkines on brain mitochondria: a mini-review
Regenerative Rehabilitation and Musculoskeletal Injury
Project Description: Investigating regenerative rehabilitation approaches to improve the function and quality of the remaining muscle after traumatic injury. Projects explore the underlying molecular mechanisms of impaired tissue plasticity after traumatic injury as well as muscle-bone interactions
Funding Sources: Department of Defense, National Institutes of Health
Project Collaborators: Dr. Sarah Greising
Related Publications:
- Differential effects of Western diet and traumatic muscle injury on skeletal muscle metabolic regulation in male and female mice
- Resistance wheel running improves contractile strength, but not metabolic capacity, in a murine model of volumetric muscle loss injury
- The bioenergetic “CK Clamp” technique detects substrate-specific changes in mitochondrial respiration and membrane potential during early VML injury pathology
- Restricted physical activity after volumetric muscle loss alters whole-body and local muscle metabolism
- Pharmaceutical agents for contractile-metabolic dysfunction after volumetric muscle loss
- Independent of physical activity, volumetric muscle loss injury in a murine model impairs whole-body metabolism
- PGC-1α Overexpression Partially Rescues Impaired Oxidative and Contractile Pathophysiology Following Volumetric Muscle Loss Injury
- Musculoskeletal Regeneration, Rehabilitation, and Plasticity Following Traumatic Injury
- The impact of volumetric muscle loss injury on persistent motoneuron axotomy
- Early rehabilitation for volumetric muscle loss injury augments endogenous regenerative aspects of muscle strength and oxidative capacity
Regenerative rehabilitation combines regenerative medicine approaches (e.g., a cellular scaffold in blue) with rehabilitation to maximize the tissue repair and plasticity. Ideally, regenerative rehabilitation will result in cellular response greater than regenerative medicine or rehabilitation approaches alone.
Mitochondrial Bioenergetics, Cell Physiology & Cell Manufacturing
Project Description: Determine the role of mitochondria structure and function on cellular physiology and in the context of cell manufacturing (e.g., MSCs)
Funding Sources: NSF CMaT
Project Collaborators: Dr. Luke Mortensen and Dr. Ross Marklein
Related Publications:
- Five-dimensional Two-Photon Volumetric Microscopy of In-Vivo Dynamic Activities Using Liquid Lens Remote Focusing
- Skeletal muscle metabolic adaptations to endurance exercise training are attainable in mice with simvastatin treatment
- Two-photon deep-tissue spatially resolved mitochondrial imaging using membrane potential fluorescence fluctuations
- Spatial frequency metrics for analysis of microscopic images of musculoskeletal tissues
Mitochondrial networks within healthy (top) and injured (bottom) skeletal muscle fibers. This loss of network organization is associated with several pathological features within skeletal muscle included impair mitochondrial respiration. An overarching goal of our lab is to determine how mitochondrial morphology and function impact cellular physiology and stem cell biology
Past Projects and Grants
Molecular Mechanisms of Muscle Regeneration
Project Description: Investigates the role of hypoxia-inducible factors in satellite cell dynamics. Also, investigates mTOR-targeted therapies for muscular dystrophy.
Funding Source: National Institutes of Health (to H. Yin), Muscular Dystrophy Associate (to A. Beedle)
Project Collaborators: Dr. Aaron Beedle and Dr. Hang Yin
Related Publications:
- Mitochondria-cytokine crosstalk following skeletal muscle injury and disuse: a mini-review
- Four-week rapamycin treatment improves muscular dystrophy in a fukutin-deficient mouse model of dystroglycanopathy
- Transient HIF2A inhibition promotes satellite cell proliferation and muscle regeneration
- Aggregate mesenchymal stem cell delivery ameliorates the regenerative niche for muscle repair
- Mitochondrial dysfunction in skeletal muscle of fukutin-deficient mice is resistant to exercise- and 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleotide-induced rescue
The Role of Autophagy in Skeletal Muscle
Project Description: Investigating the extent to which autophagy is sufficient and necessary for skeletal muscle adaptation to exercise and regeneration following trauma
Funding Source:
Project Collaborators: Dr. Hang Yin and Dr. Luke Mortensen
Related Publications:
- Lifelong Ulk1-mediated autophagy deficiency in muscle induces mitochondrial dysfunction and contractile weakness
- Autophagy: An Essential but Limited Cellular Process for Timely Skeletal Muscle Recovery From Injury
- Mitochondrial-specific Autophagy Linked to Mitochondrial Dysfunction Following Traumatic Freeze Injury in Mice
- Mitochondrial maintenance via autophagy contributes to functional skeletal muscle regeneration and remodeling
- Ulk1-mediated autophagy plays an essential role in mitochondrial remodeling and functional regeneration of skeletal muscle
- Exercise leads to unfavourable cardiac remodelling and enhanced metabolic homeostasis in obese mice with cardiac and skeletal muscle autophagy deficiency
- Skeletal muscle metabolic adaptations to endurance exercise training are attainable in mice with simvastatin treatment
