Lynch laboratory: Basic and clinical myology

Research Overview

View Professor Lynch's latest PubMed publications listing here

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photo of Lynch lab group 2017

We are interested in the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying skeletal muscle development and regeneration, muscle adaptation and plasticity, as well as the muscle wasting and weakness associated with ageing (sarcopenia), cancer, disuse and muscle diseases and conditions, including the muscular dystrophies and critical illness myopathy.

We are currently investigating skeletal muscle development and regeneration following injury and repair from single muscle stem cells, through to functional muscle fibres and whole muscles. We have a specific focus on stem cell self-renewal and how cellular metabolism may regulate the commitment of muscle stem cells to the myogenic lineage. We hope that a better understanding of these mechanisms will translate to improvements in autologous stem cell transplant therapies applicable to many muscle diseases and conditions.

Our studies on muscle adaptation and plasticity, wasting and weakness encompass investigations of the molecular pathways regulating muscle size and function with a translational approach from cell culture experiments complemented by different animal models as unique platforms for studying muscle wasting, adaptation and plasticity.

Our ultimate goal is to translate our fundamental biological discoveries to human patients through our extensive international collaborative network of geriatricians, critical care physicians, surgeons, neurologists, rheumatologists, anaesthetists, oncologists, endocrinologists, orthodontists, as well as biomedical and tissue engineers.

Staff

Dr Kate Murphy, Senior Research Fellow

Dr Kristy Swiderski, Senior Research Fellow

Dr Justin Hardee, Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Dr Marissa Caldow, Senior Research Fellow

Dr Audrey Chan, Research Fellow

Jennifer Trieu, Senior Research Assistant

Annabel Chee, Research Assistant

Alaina Lee, Centre Manager

Students

Francesca Alves, PhD student

John Nguyen, PhD student

Dylan Chung, PhD student

Amy Bongetti, PhD student

Funding

2019-2022 ARC Discovery Project. Mechanisms of age - related changes in amino acid signaling in skeletal muscle

2018-2022 NHMRC Project Grant. Rescuing the Dystrophin-Glycoprotein Complex to protect muscles from wasting conditions

2022-2025  NHMRC Grant. Interrogating the therapeutic potential of slow muscle programming in cancer

Research Opportunities

This research project is available to PhD students, Honours students, Master of Biomedical Science to join as part of their thesis.
Please contact the Research Group Leader to discuss your options.