Muscle Energetics

Skeletal muscle is the most abundant tissue in humans and faces near instantaneous changes in demand for force production lasting from seconds to minutes to hours. Initiating and maintaining muscle contraction requires rapid, coordinated movement of signals and material within and among various structures located throughout the relatively large muscle cell. The Muscle Energetics Laboratory focuses on the energy distribution aspect of continued muscle contraction, deficits in which have been implicated in many pathologies including diabetes and muscular dystrophy as well as aging. In particular, we aim to determine how mitochondria are optimized as part of the integrated muscle cell to maintain energy homeostasis during the large change in energy demand caused by the onset of muscle contraction. The working hypothesis in the lab is that mitochondrial function within a muscle cell is dictated not only by the amount and composition of mitochondria but also by spatial relationships between mitochondria and the sites of energy storage, utilization, and signaling. Ongoing efforts are centered around the structure, function, composition, and developmental regulation of mitochondrial networks with the goal of gaining better control of and understanding the functional consequences of altering spatial relationships within the muscle energy distribution system.