University of Liverpoool
About us
We're addressing the issues that are most important to local population health needs. We conduct research that makes a real impact, delivering results from bench to bedside, positively changing patient care in our communities. We're connecting research and teaching across disciplines that combat health challenges, from early years to later life.
We're addressing the issues that are most important to local population health needs. We conduct research that makes a real impact, delivering results from bench to bedside, positively changing patient care in our communities. We're connecting research and teaching across disciplines that combat health challenges, from early years to later life.
The skeletal muscle group involved in CHOKO-AGE within the University of Liverpool work in the new Department of Musculoskeletal and Ageing Science in the Institute of Life Course and Medical Sciences (formerly the Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease). This Institute hosts the largest grouping of biomedical researchers, veterinarians and clinicians studying musculoskeletal biology in the UK and a major UK Centre of Excellence: The MRC-Versus Arthritis Centre for Integrated Research into Musculoskeletal Ageing (CIMA).
Our core aims are to understand the effects of ageing on all aspects of skeletal muscle, including its structure, metabolism and functions and to translate this basic research into practical pharmacological, nutritional or physiological interventions to reduce age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass and function (i.e. sarcopenia). The skeletal muscle research group comprises biologists and clinical staff and employs the full range of modern “omics”, molecular and biochemical approaches to study basic cell models, animal models, volunteer subjects and patient groups.
We collaborate extensively with colleagues internationally and in, particular, have a long standing and prolific research link with the University of Michigan and Oklahoma Health Science Center in the USA which has been continuously funded by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) for more than 15 years. This collaboration has highlighted the role of age-related motor neuron loss in the pathogenesis of sarcopenia and much of our research now focusses on this aspect.
The muscle research group at the University of Liverpool started in 1984 when professor Richard H.T. Edwards and his research team moved from University College, London. Dr. Malcolm Jackson was part of that team and introduced a basic science approach to studying muscle loss. The group has grown and merged with other musculoskeletal researchers to form a Department of Musculoskeletal Biology as a core part of the Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease in 2010. A key milestone in the development of the research programme was the award of a major UK Centre of Excellence by the Medical Research Council and Arthritis Research UK in 2012. The Centre for Integrated Research into Musculoskeletal Ageing (CIMA) is a joint research initiative with the Universities of Newcastle and Sheffield aimed at understanding ageing of the whole musculoskeletal system and how this contributes to the risk of developing major musculoskeletal disorders, such as osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and sarcopenia.
The future plans of the muscle research group remain to understand the effects of ageing on all aspects of skeletal muscle, including its structure, metabolism and functions and to translate this basic research into practical pharmacological, nutritional or physiological interventions to reduce age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass and function.
