Faculty and graduate students from southern Ontario’s scientific community came together at York University to discuss issues related to muscle health at the second annual Muscle Health Awareness Day (MHAD).
The event, sponsored by the Muscle Health Research Centre (MHRC), featured a series of lectures .jpg)
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 York’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 York’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.