Genetics of Healthier Muscle Aging

Skeletal muscles play a vital role in everyday activities. With aging, muscle tissue accumulates detrimental changes, which negatively impact the quality of living and promote morbidity and mortality. Our lab studies muscles using the fruit fly - a useful model organism for genetic research. With this project, we would like to identify genetic conditions associated with stronger resistance of muscles to aging. We plan to screen multiple lines of flies to find those that demonstrate significantly better preservation of their muscle function during aging. Next, we will apply bioinformatics methods to identify genetic polymorphism (mutations) linked to this condition. Finally, we want to use the fly data to search for similar mutations in humans.

Molecular & Cellular Biology

We look for responsible and self-motivated individuals, capable of autonomous work.

• Must be freshman, sophomore, or junior,
• Minimal GPA - 3.5,
• Biology/Chemistry as a major,
• Minimal availability for project - 5 hrs/week,
• Previous experience in research - not required.

February 2, 2022 - December 31, 2022

Dr. Anton Bryantsev abryants@kennesaw.edu