UMass Magazine Online

Winter 2003

Departments

Around the Pond

Features

All my best friends are here

One giant molecule

I learnt to dream of Sicily

The Landscape Beautiful

Around the Pond

Oh, my aging muscles

LIFT, PUMP, HUFF, PUFF.

From pumping iron to hefting groceries to standing upright, our muscles work against gravity throughout our lives. Last October, Jane Kent-Braun, associate professor of exercise science, launched a research project to study changes in the way our muscles work – or don’t – as we age.

The study, a joint project with the Yale University School of Medicine and Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, has received a five-year $1.4 million grant from the National Institute on Aging. Kent-Braun is principal investigator for the project.

Researchers will use noninvasive methods to measure skeletal muscle fatigue in two groups of men and women, one group aged 20-35, the other 65-85. Included among other topics of study are: how muscles are activated by the brain, how reduced activity affects muscle size and whether there is a gender difference in the way muscles receive energy.

Lift, pump, huff, puff.

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A truly defining moment

...and a remarkable, joyful noise

INAUGURATION: More photos

The Academic Imperative

Inside & Out at SOM

SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT: More photos

The bright idea: UMass Amherst and Baystate Medical Center

AMHERST & BAYSTATE: More photos

Arts & Science & a major grant

bridges of umass

BRIDGES: Larger image