“Our recent study shows that exercise leads to expansion of the mitochondrial network and, as a result, energy is distributed to muscle in a more effective manner,” says Professor David Hood��from the School of Kinesiology & Health Science in the Faculty of Health.

David Hood

On the other hand, the research shows that mitochondria become smaller or more fragmented when the muscle is not used –��due to aging, for example��–��which leads to cellular damage and degeneration of muscle cells.

The study, “Expression of Mitochondrial Fission and Fusion Regulation Proteins in Skeletal Muscle During Chronic Use and Disuse”, assesses the effects of aging on mitochondrial morphology and has been accepted for publication by the peer-reviewed journal��Muscle and Nerve.

Led by Hood, director of the Muscle Health Research Centre at 91��ɫ, the study was conducted by his graduate students Sobia Iqbal, Olga Ostojic, Kaustabh Singh and Anna-Maria Joseph.

The findings indicate that the proteins involved in maintaining the size and shape of mitochondria are also regulated by exercise, or lack thereof. According to the researchers, this can have important implications for energy production in muscle, the benefits of exercise and the consequences of chronic inactivity on our health.

The research received support from a Natural Science & Engineering Research Council of Canada grant.

The post Regular exercise leads to better energy distribution in muscle appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Robert Haché (left), 91��ɫ's vice-president research & innovation, and Harvey Skinner (below right), dean of 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Health, will host the Research Celebration, Tuesday, Jan. 17, from 2 to 4 pm, in the Scott Library Atrium, Keele campus.

The celebration will highlight innovation in muscle health research at 91��ɫ and will include talks from four Faculty of Health researchers discussing their work.

"This celebration provides an opportunity for the 91��ɫ research community to share knowledge and ideas and to come together to learn more about the breadth and depth of innovative research taking place at the University,” says Haché.

The four researchers will discuss the role muscles play in everything from obesity and diabetes to osteoarthritis and reversing the aging process.

“Keeping people healthier longer, so that they can age positively and avoid chronic diseases and injuries, is at the heart of this celebration of ground breaking research underway in the Faculty of Health,” says Skinner.

Professor Rolando Ceddia, a Canadian Institutes of Health Research New Investigator, will discuss “Improving Muscle and Adipose Tissue Function to Treat Obesity and Diabetes: The Role of Exercise and Diet”.

“My research investigates the molecular and physiological mechanisms by which obesity induces dysfunctional metabolic alterations in adipose tissue and skeletal muscle; two tissues that play crucial roles in regulating energy and glucose homeostasis,” says Ceddia, of 91��ɫ’s Muscle Health Research Centre in the School of Kinesiology & Health Science.

Left: Rolando Ceddia��

“We study the effects of exercise, either alone or in combination with nutritional and pharmacological interventions, on glucose and lipid metabolism in diet-induced obesity.”

The presentation will look at the adaptive responses induced by chronic endurance training in skeletal muscle and adipose tissue metabolism, as well as the implications for whole-body energy expenditure. The main goal is to understand the role of exercise and diet in the prevention and/or treatment of obesity and its co-morbidities.

Professor Jennifer Kuk (right)��of 91��ɫ’s School of Kinesiology & Health Science will look at “Aerobic Versus Resistance Exercise for Decreasing Diabetes Risk in Obese Youth”. The focus of this talk is to examine the effectiveness of aerobic and resistance exercise for improving insulin resistance in youth using a randomized control design.

Insulin resistance at the site of the muscle is one of the hallmark characteristics of pre-diabetes and Type��2 diabetes, says Kuk. Increasingly, youth are presenting with insulin resistance. It is increasingly important to develop non-pharmacological interventions for treating insulin resistance.����

Aerobic and resistance exercise help improve insulin resistance in adults. Aerobic exercise improves muscle glucose metabolism and resistance exercise increases the muscle mass available for uptaking glucose.����

Biology Professor David Hood (left), a Canada Research Chair in the School of Kinesiology & Health Science, will discuss the topic, “Can Exercise 'Rescue' Aging Muscles?” Skeletal muscle occupies about 40 per cent of body weight and is a major contributor to whole body health and metabolism.

“As we age, we lose muscle mass, and this is apparent in elderly, frail individuals. The mechanisms of how this muscle mass is lost are not completely understood, but a prominent theory involves the increasing malfunction of mitochondria within muscle cells,” says Hood. “Mitochondria are the powerhouses of the cell, the organelles which supply the energy for cell survival.”

With age, mitochondrial content within muscle declines and they begin to produce molecules called “reactive oxygen species” which inflict damage on cellular DNA. If the DNA in any cell breaks down, the cell dies. In the case of muscle cells, they atrophy or shrink. If many cells atrophy, the body loses muscle mass.

“Research has shown that exercise is a potential non-pharmacological therapy which can be used to reduce the loss of muscle mass by improving mitochondrial function, thereby preserving muscle function as we age,” says Hood.

Professor William Gage (right), associate dean research & innovation, will examine “Muscles and Sore Joints: Arthritis and Muscle Activity”. The knee and hip joints experience large loads when a person walks, says Gage. To deal with those loads, the joints and surrounding muscles act together to allow a person to move, while protecting the joints from the loading that occurs during movement.

As a person moves, their muscles are activated or turned on at the right time by the right amount so their joints will not only move, but their limbs won’t collapse under the weight, says Gage. Sensors in the joints contribute to the nervous system’s knowledge of when and how the muscles should be turned on.

Previous research has shown that when a joint is painful or swollen the sensory information coming from these joint sensors is affected, which in turn affects the activation of the muscles around the joints. A long-term outcome of this response may be osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis, affecting more than 50 per cent of those over the age of 65.

“Recent research in our lab has examined how different strategies during walking may influence the amount of loading in the knee joint and how muscles around the joint respond to loads that are imposed on the knee joint,” says Gage. “Future work in our lab will explore how loading and muscle activity are affected by changes in the sensory information that arises from the knee joint.”

To RSVP to Lia Novario, by Friday, Jan. 13, or call ext. 33782.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Using an animal model, the study’s researchers found that the motor performance and muscle endurance of mice with ALS improved when they were given higher than normal doses of vitamin D.

“We are the only group in Canada that is looking at the connection between dietary interventions and the effects on the ALS model,” says 91��ɫ kinesiology Professor Mazen Hamadeh (left)��of the University’s Muscle Health Research Centre in the Faculty of Health. Hamadeh supervised the research led by 91��ɫ master of science degree students Jesse Solomon and Alexandro Gianforcaro in the School of Kinesiology & Health Science.

The researchers conducted three different studies looking at different amounts of vitamin D. The first looked at the effects of 10 times the adequate intake of vitamin D on the ALS animal model – the equivalent of 8,000 IU/day in humans. Results showed an improvement in both motor performance and endurance, but no change to disease outcomes, such as onset, progression or lifespan.

“We followed up with another study because we thought we didn’t give high enough amounts of vitamin D,” says Hamadeh. In the second study, the amount of vitamin D was increased to 50 times the suggested adequate intake amount or the equivalent of 40,000 IU per day in humans. Again, there was definite improvement in functional outcomes, but not in disease outcomes, confirming the findings of the first study, he says.

The researchers then thought that perhaps the recommended adequate intake amount of vitamin D was set too high and there was already an overabundance of vitamin D being administered. That led to a third study where only one fortieth of the recommended adequate intake amount was administered using the animal model, which induced a vitamin D deficiency. This study was published in PLoS ONE, an international online peer-reviewed journal, on Dec. 27.

This third study produced some interesting results, says Hamadeh. When vitamin D deficiency was induced before disease onset, disease severity was reduced, but after disease onset, it was worse. “So at very low levels there is something happening in the cell that is causing them to function better only for a little bit of time, only until disease onset, than they progress regularly,” he says.

The key now is to find out what molecular changes are occurring in the muscle, spinal cord and brain when vitamin D is administered, and that is what Hamadeh and his students are currently working on.

“ALS is the most common motor neuron disease and up until now there is no cure for it. It is also a fast-progressing disease. Between diagnosis and death, there are usually two to five years. We are trying to see whether by modulating the diet, by changing the diet, we can influence not only when the disease starts, but how fast it progresses and whether it can affect lifespan,” says Hamadeh.

“To find a dietary intervention that could influence a fast-paced disease after diagnosis of the disease, meaning after some irreversible damage has happened, means this particular nutrient has to be very powerful to either halt or slow the pace of the disease.”

The model Hamadeh works with suffers from heightened oxidative stress, a state of increased levels of free radicals or oxidants that are produced naturally inside the cell during normal functioning and metabolism. There is an association between oxidative stress and chronic, metabolic, autoimmune, neurodegenerative and neuromuscular diseases, including ALS, Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, hypertension, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis.

Hamadeh hopes his research and that of his students will help not only ALS, but many other similar diseases that share common mechanisms with ALS.

By Sandra McLean, YFile writer

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post High doses of vitamin D might affect Lou Gehrig's disease appeared first on Research & Innovation.

The event, sponsored by the Muscle Health Research Centre (MHRC), featured a series of lectures looking at muscle adaptation, disease, development, blood flow and metabolism. Some of the key discussions revolved around the role of stem cells in muscle repair, aging and cancers, as well as the causes and reversal of aging at a muscular level.

Professor Olivier Birot (left) of 91��ɫ’s School of Kinesiology & Health Science presented his work on the role played by specific proteins in the control of blood vessel growth in muscle. He also looked at the role exercise plays in initiating the process of new vessel growth.

MHAD highlights the work of both junior and senior faculty members from across southern Ontario, and gives graduate students an opportunity to network and present their work in an informal, but educational manner. Four of the graduate students were awarded presentation prizes at the May 27 event��for their work in muscle research.

Right: Winners of the MHAD poster contest (from left), Roxanna Chis of the University of Toronto, Jenna Gillen of McMaster University, Andrew Mitchell of the University of Waterloo and Brennan Smith of the University of Guelph

The Muscle Health Research Centre in the Faculty of Health provides a centralized and focused research emphasis on the importance of skeletal muscle to the overall health and well-being of Canadians. The centre’s upcoming initiatives include the sponsorship of a seminar provided by Professor Bengt Saltin of the Copenhagen Muscle Research Centre, who will be receiving an honorary doctorate degree for his exceptional research in the area of muscle and exercise physiology during 91��ɫ’s June 15 convocation ceremony.

For more information, visit the Muscle Health Research Centre or contact Professor David A. Hood, director of the Muscle Health Research Centre, at dhood@yorku.ca. To view the MHAD program and abstracts, click here.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) has awarded 91��ɫ $274,689 in infrastructure funding to support the research of three 91��ɫ professors.

,��professor in the School of Kinesiology & Health Science in 91��ɫ's Faculty of Health and a member of the Muscle Health Research Centre, will receive $79,260 to support his research on muscle microcirculation in health and diseases. Birot’s research examines how peripheral vascular disease (PVD) affects key molecular mechanisms that regulate the formation of blood vessels in muscles. PVD is characterized by insufficient blood supply in leg muscles, leading to suffering, reduced mob ility and eventually amputation. ��PVD affects more than one million Canadians and is a frequent complication for patients with obesity, Type 2 diabetes or chronic heart failure.

Right: Olivier Birot

Nicholas Cepeda, professor in the Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Health, will receive $100,777 to establish a developmental cognitive neuroscience laboratory for research on learning and memory, cognitive flexibility and musical training. His research has shown a 300 per cent improvement in students’ long-term recall of factual information, merely by changing the timing of when a particular curriculum item is taught and re-taught − with no increase in teaching time. The project’s musical training research will provide information about the brain functions of musicians and non-musicians, including processing speed, working memory, inhibition, attentional control and task-switching skills.

Left: Nicholas Cepeda

,��professor and a Canadian Institutes��of Health Research New Investigator in the��Department of Biology in��91��ɫ's , will receive $94,652 to support multi-faceted research in integrative neuroendocrinology and physiology. His research on the neuroendocrine regulation of growth, reproduction and body weight in fish could help aquaculture industry to improve the feeding, growth and reproduction of cultured fish. The funding also provides critical equipment for cutting-edge research on the neuroendocrine defects underlying diabetes and obesity, and may help to develop innovative pharmacological and cell-based therapies to help Canadians and others in their fight against these metabolic diseases.

Left: Suraj Unniappan

“These projects demonstrate 91��ɫ’s excellence in health and science research,” said Stan Shapson, vice-president research & innovation. “The questions Professor Birot's and Cepeda's projects explore concerning muscle health and learning and cognition reflect the relevance and disciplinary strengths of our psychology and kinesiology researchers, while Professor Unniappan's project illustrates the industrial applications that may flow from support for basic research. We fully support the importance of the CFI’s investments in state-of-the-art infrastructure and the world-class research they enable at 91��ɫ.”

91��ɫ’s projects were part of a in 's Leaders Opportunity Fund, which provides Canadian researchers with the necessary tools to carry out a range of frontier research. The funding supports 339 leading researchers and 245 projects at 48 Canadian research institutions.

Gary Goodyear, minister of state (science��& technology), made the announcement in Ottawa, Ontario on Jan.��21. “Supporting science is key to Canada’s future economic growth,” said Goodyear. “Our government's commitment to helping universities attract and retain world-leading research talent will lead to discoveries that improve Canadians' quality of life and create new jobs."

“Access to modern, cutting-edge equipment and facilities is imperative in the 21st century," said Gilles��Patry, president��& CEO of the CFI. “For more than a decade, the CFI has provided thousands of world-class researchers with the tools they need to do their work. Without the right infrastructure, they simply wouldn't be in Canada.”

A complete list of CFI recipients is available on the website.

By Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of Janice Walls and Melissa Hughes

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The first annual Muscle Health Awareness Day, organized by 91��ɫ’s�� Muscle Health Research Centre, will bring together the latest findings on the contribution made by heart muscle and skeletal muscle to overall health and wellbeing.

A wide range of collaborative research on muscle biology research is being done at 91��ɫ’s Muscle Health Research Centre, by researchers from the Faculty of Health and the Faculty of Science and Engineering; scientists are examining muscle development, disease, metabolism, blood supply, injury and regeneration, as well as adaptation of muscle to exercise. Using molecular, cellular and whole-body techniques, a major goal is to learn how Canadians can benefit from exercise through adaptations in the metabolism and structure of muscle, says Professor David Hood, director of the Muscle Health Research Centre and Canada Research Chair in Cell Physiology.

Researchers from the Centre will be joined by scientists from the University of Toronto, Sick Kids Hospital, the University of Guelph, McMaster University and Brock University, who will present their findings during four sessions. More than 50 poster presentations will also be on display at Muscle Health Awareness Day, showing the wide variety of muscle research being done by graduate students.

The four sessions during Muscle Health Awareness Day include:

1. Metabolism − will provide a description of important protein and fat metabolism pathways in health and disease. Emphasis will be on how enzymes responsible for synthesizing new proteins in muscle cells are activated, and how fats are taken up into muscle cells and metabolized. This has important implications for muscle wasting conditions, as well as obesity.
2. The Cardiovascular System − will examine how heart muscle adapts to stress in various ways.�� The session will focus on understanding how heart muscle cells respond to stressors such as exercise and heat and how novel methods can be used to identify important proteins that are found in cardiac disease conditions. It will also provide information about heart and smooth muscle signaling during hemodynamic stress, such as high blood pressure.
3. Muscle Development and Satellite Cells − will describe some of the important molecules that regulate the process by which large, mature muscle cells develop from small precursor cells that fuse together, allowing muscle contraction and providing the energy for contraction to take place. Research will also be presented about the importance of precursor cells (called satellite cells) in adult muscle, and how they respond to exercise and aging.
4. Exercise, Metabolism and Disease − will provide an understanding of important enzymes in the mitochondria that regulate carbohydrate and fat metabolism, and will relate mitochondrial function (the powerhouse of the cell) to states of physical activity and obesity in youth. Information will also be provided about muscle diseases that lead to exercise intolerance and muscle cramps.

WHEN: ���������������������� Friday May 28, 9am to 5 pm
WHERE: ������������������ Computer Science & Engineering Lobby and Lecture Hall B, Keele campus
INFO: �������������������������� /mhrc/Musclehealthday.htm.
MAP:������������������������������ See # 19 on map, /yorkweb/maps/index.htm

By Janice Walls, media relations officer.

The post 91��ɫ to host muscle and healthy living research forum Friday, May 28 appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Professors Caitlin Fisher, David Hood, Joel Katz, Steve Mason, Wendy Taylor and Peer Zumbansen will continue their respective research in digital culture, cell physiology, health psychology, Greco-Roman cultural interaction, experimental particle physics, and transnational economic governance and legal theory.

With the renewals, 91��ɫ maintains its total of 28 research chairs. “Federal research investments are crucial to attracting and retaining the world's best researchers,” said Stan Shapson, vice-president research & innovation. “The Canada Research Chairs program allows us to sustain 91��ɫ’s globally competitive research across health, the sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities. Our researchers’ findings help improve the quality of life, economic, and social well-being of Canadians and people around the world.”

Caitlin Fisher, Canada Research Chair (CRC)��in Digital Culture and film professor in the Faculty of Fine Arts, investigates the future of narrative, interactive storytelling, and interactive cinema in the emerging area of virtual reality research. Her research develops techniques and narrative strategies for use in augmented reality (AR) environments, which is increasingly important for Canada's culture and entertainment industries as AR and associated technologies like smart phones become more commonplace.

Left: Caitlin Fisher

Under her direction, 91��ɫ’s AR Lab, part of the in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Fine Arts, is conducting research at the forefront of art and science collaborations. The��lab makes use of��both established and emerging technologies to produce innovative research methods, expressive tools for artists and award-winning content that challenges cinematic and literary conventions while enhancing the ways in which people interact with their physical environment and with each other.

David Hood, CRC in Cell Physiology and kinesiology & health science professor in the Faculty of Health, is an internationally-recognized authority in muscle health, exercise and mitochondria. His publications have expanded on the important role that mitochondria play in muscle, and the beneficial effect of exercise in enhancing energy production, preventing cell death and attenuating disease processes.

Right: David Hood

Hood operates one of the world’s most advanced laboratories in the cellular physiology of mitochondria. In January 2010,��he became the first director of the newly opened 91��ɫ Muscle Health Research Centre (MHRC), which is unique in Canada. The MHRC integrates research in mitochondria with biomedical research across the University.

Joel Katz, CRC in Health Psychology and psychology professor in the Faculty of Health, is a world-class researcher in the study of pain. His research has significant impact on the way pain is understood and managed in both preventative and rehabilitative medicine.

Left: Joel Katz

His major accomplishments include using a preventative approach to advance the treatment of acute post-operative pain, increasing our understanding of neonatal pain and how to manage it, identifying factors that predict the transition of acute to chronic pain, and discovering previously unrecognized gender differences in the experience of pain. Katz is coordinator of the 91��ɫ health psychology Graduate Diploma Program, the only��program in Canada offering specialized training in health psychology leading to a diploma.

Steve Mason, CRC in Greco-Roman Cultural Interaction and history professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, explores issues of cultural identity among the peoples of the eastern Mediterranean under Hellenistic and Roman rule (200 BCE to 300 CE). He focuses on Judea and the Jewish Mediterranean diaspora in the context of other diasporas.

Right: Steve Mason

The most important literary sources for these questions are 30 surviving volumes by the first-century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (37 - c. 100 CE), and Mason is at the forefront of research into these works. He leads an international team of 14 scholars in supplying Josephus with a new translation and the first comprehensive . He has published five books and many articles on related subjects while editing and co-authoring another seven. He manages the popular online database, , and is completing a volume on the fateful Judean-Roman War of 66 to 74 CE.

, CRC in Experimental Particle Physics and��physics professor in the Faculty of Science & Engineering, studies the high-energy particle collisions at the and at the accelerator. Her research aims to understand matter’s smallest indivisible components and the forces of interaction between them. Taylor is recognized by her peers as an expert in b-quark physics analysis and particle detector electronics development.

Left: Wendy Taylor

Her primary analysis found the first evidence of spontaneous matter-antimatter transitions of B0s mesons, composite particles that contain both a b-quark and an anti-s quark. She contributed to developing a new calorimeter trigger, which allows high-rate data collection. She is now developing low-noise radiation-hard readout electronics for a new particle detector and algorithms to search for the Higgs boson, the particle believed to be responsible for why matter in the universe has mass.

, CRC in Transnational Economic Governance & Legal Theory and professor in��Osgoode Hall Law School, explores globalization’s impact on national political economies, concentrating on changing forms of production and on the politics of privatization and deregulation.

Right: Peer Zumbansen

Zumbansen's��research is advancing the development of both a comparative and methodological perspective of globalization on national political economies.��His work��also explores broader questions concerning political sovereignty and the changing relationship between the state and the market, particularly in the European Union, Canada and the United States. Widely published in both German and English,��Zumbansen is the co-founder and co-editor-in-chief of the .

Gary Goodyear, minister of state (science��& technology), announced the nationwide renewals in Ottawa on March 26. “Our government is investing in science and technology to create jobs, strengthen the economy and improve Canadians’ quality of life,” said Goodyear. “The Canada Research Chairs program is helping our universities develop and attract talented people, strengthening our capacity for leading-edge research, while creating jobs and economic opportunities for Canadians now and in the future."

The CRC program attracts the best talent from Canada and around the world, helping universities achieve research excellence in natural sciences and engineering, health sciences and social sciences and humanities.

For more information, visit the Web site.

By Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer.

The post Six Canada Research Chairs renewed at 91��ɫ for $5.7 million appeared first on Research & Innovation.

The research, which looked at the effects of caloric restriction in a mouse model of ALS, found that restricting caloric intake to 60 per cent of the usual mouse diet significantly hastened the onset and progression of ALS, as well as death. It is the first study to demonstrate that caloric restriction in animal models of ALS produces molecular-level changes that lead to cell death.

The study was published today by the open access peer reviewed journal Public Library of Science (). Former 91��ɫ graduate student Barkha P. Patel, supervised by assistant professor Mazen J. Hamadeh (left), led the research at 91��ɫ’s Muscle Health Research Centre, in collaboration with researchers at McMaster University.

“Research has shown that restricting calories can extend lifespan in animals, so we were surprised to find during an earlier study with the same animal model of ALS that it actually hastened the clinical onset of the disease,” said Hamadeh, of the School of Kinesiology and Health Science in 91��ɫ’s . “In this study, we set out to discover how caloric restriction actually led to changes at the molecular level.”

ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, is characterized by degeneration of motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord and is associated with an increase in oxidative stress – the physiological stress on the body that is caused by damage from free radicals that are not neutralized by antioxidants.

The study sought to unravel the mechanism behind the acceleration of the clinical onset and progression of ALS when calories are restricted. It found that caloric restriction shortens lifespan through an increase in protein involved in lipid damage, inflammation and cell death.

If the results from the animal model of ALS are extrapolated to patients with the disease, caloric restriction would be contraindicated, Patel said.

For more information about nutrition research in ALS at 91��ɫ, visit Hamadeh's Web site.

By Janice Walls, media relations coordinator. Republished courtesy of 91��ɫ Media Relations.

The post Cutting calories may accelerate ALS, 91��ɫ researchers suggest appeared first on Research & Innovation.

91��ɫ is flexing its muscle. With the recent launch of the Muscle Health��Research Centre (MHRC), the University is devoting time and space to understanding what makes us move, reported .

“It’s a centre that brings together about 16 different scientists who all study muscle in some way. Mostly skeletal muscle, the muscles that make us move,” says David Hood, director of the centre.

Besides looking good, muscle is fundamental to our survival.

“Muscle is 40 per cent of your body, so it’s a large amount of your body mass,” says Hood. “It’s involved in metabolism and locomotion and it adapts. So many of us focus on exercise and how exercise promotes adaptations in muscle that make us healthier. It’s not about high-performance athletes. It’s really about the study of muscle and its relation to the health of Canadians.”

Muscle plays a large role in many health ailments. Diabetes, obesity, aging and even cancer are all related to muscle and its prevalence in the body.

“A third of cancer patients actually die of muscle wasting. They don’t die of the tumour. They die because that tumour secretes things that affect the condition of muscle, and eventually, they’ll have respiratory failure because the respiratory muscles aren’t working.”

The MHRC is the only centre in Canada devoted to studying muscle. “There’s plenty of room for lots of research and that’s why a centre like this is important,” says Hood. “We all have different interests in muscle and come from different sides of the coin, but we all study muscle and its implications for health.”

The centre has been in the works for a number of years but officially opened last month, said Metro. Because 91��ɫ doesn’t have a medical school, the centre is more research-oriented. However, Hood is looking to grow.

“My goal is to help this develop from the human side,” he said. “We’ve been studying animal models of muscle disease and dysfunction, and models of exercise for many years, but now we’re going to try to move to the human side of things.”

Part of the MHRC’s objective is to increase the visibility of biomedical science at 91��ɫ, and Toronto in general. “We have a new here at 91��ɫ. The idea is to attract scientists and students from all over the place. To bring people together and increase the visibility of muscle health research in Canada and around the world.”

By Leyla Emory. Reprinted courtesy of .

The post 91��ɫ flexes its muscle with new research centre appeared first on Research & Innovation.

“This centre is unique in that we’re zeroing in on skeletal muscle and its relationship to health, with a strong focus on what exercise can do,” says Professor David Hood,��the centre’s��founding director.��“We’re looking for new discoveries on how exercise can benefit Canadians through adaptations in the metabolism and structure of muscle.”

The MHRC conducts collaborative research with scientists from the School of Kinesiology & Health Science and the Department of Biology.

“Like all research centres at 91��ɫ, the MHRC has an interdisciplinary mandate – that is, enabling researchers from different departments and disciplines to work together towards a common goal,” says Hood.

Scientists from the MHRC are investigating topics such as muscle metabolism, muscle development and muscle adaptations to exercise, metabolic disease and cancer. Professor Tara Haas and colleagues in the MHRC recently identified a cell-signalling process that stimulates blood vessel growth and may help individuals with diabetes to exercise and thereby improve their health (see YFile, Nov. 17, 2009). Hood’s research includes an ongoing series of investigations into the benefits of exercise (see YFile, ��May 11, 2007, March 2, 2009 and January 18, 2010).

“As a leading research institution, we’re concerned with bringing the work of our scientists to bear on the real world and improving the health and well-being of Canadians,” says Harvey Skinner, dean of��91��ɫ’s Faculty of Health. The centre will serve as an innovative hub for the life sciences within 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Health, generating new knowledge and disseminating research findings to the public and the health system.

The opening ceremony featured guest speakers, including Olympic figure skater Barbara Underhill; Philip Gardiner, director of the Health, Leisure & Human Performance Research Institute at the��University of Manitoba; and Jane Aubin, scientific director of the .

To learn more about muscle health research at 91��ɫ, visit the MHRC Web site or contact Hood at dhood@yorku.ca.

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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