York University launches first muscle health research centre in Canada

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Researchers find age-related muscle loss is reversible

 

TORONTO, January 18, 2010 -- York University will officially launch its Muscle Health Research Centre (MHRC) on Wednesday, Jan. 20 at 10:30am, the first of its kind in Canada.

 

“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 director David Hood, a Professor in the School of Kinesiology & Health Science, Faculty of Health. “We’re looking for new discoveries on how exercise can benefit Canadians through adaptations in the metabolism and structure of muscle,” he says.

Hood, York’s Canada Research Chair in Cell Physiology, has already uncovered startling findings about aging and muscle loss. His study, published in Aging, found that exercise functions as a fountain of youth: Elderly subjects are capable of rebuilding muscle mass, and while they won’t achieve the abs of a 20-year-old, they can reverse significant damage and loss of function caused by inactivity and age.

 

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

 

“Like all research centres at York, 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.

 

“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 York’s Faculty of Health. The MHRC will serve as an innovative hub for the life sciences within the faculty, generating new knowledge and disseminating research findings to the public and the health system.

 

The opening ceremony will feature guest speakers, including Olympic figure skater Barbara Underhill; Philip Gardiner, Director, Health, Leisure and Human Performance Research Institute, University of Manitoba, and Jane Aubin, Scientific Director, CIHR Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis.

Event details:

What: Opening of York University Muscle Health Research Centre
When: Wednesday, January 20, 2010, 10:30am – 1pm

Where: Schulich Executive Learning Centre Room Rm. X106, Keele Campus, York University

 

To RSVP, e-mail Kathy Thomas, thomask@yorku.ca .

For more information the MHRC and its work, visit: www.yorku.ca/mhrc .

 

 

York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada’s most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as 200,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 10 Faculties and 28 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges. York University is an autonomous, not-for-profit corporation.

 

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Media Contact:

Melissa Hughes, Media Relations, York University, 416 736 2100 x22097 / mehughes@yorku.ca