Molecular Metabolism and Exercise Biochemistry Lab

Exercise has beneficial effects on several organs that are not limited to muscle and bone, primary organs for exercise, but include other organs such as liver, fat, brain, etc., in addition to enhancing overall metabolic phenotype systematically. However, precise molecular mechanisms of how those beneficial events happen are left to be fully understood and such yet insufficient understanding presents a major hurdle for utilizing exercise for therapeutic purpose. In this regard, we aim to unravel detailed molecular mechanism of various exercise effects in order to harness that knowledge to induce beneficial exercise effects in patients to treat diverse diseases. To this end, experimentally, we plan to generate three groups of mice: sedentary condition, endurance exercise, resistance exercise. By comparing results of bulk RNA-seq and proteomics in those groups, we will identify genomic and proteomic differences of muscle cells, respectively, in unbiased manner. In addition, since muscle regeneration occur through differentiation of muscle stem cells called satellite cells into myoblasts which further differentiate into myotubes, we will study the features of satellite cells upon each type of exercise using single-cell RNA-seq analysis. With this plan, we will identify crucial factors in determining specific muscle types upon exercise, and categorize satellite cells upon each exercise. These outcomes will lead to future experiments revealing detailed mechanism of exercise-type specific muscle regeneration considering those factors or satellite cells as critical players in muscle regeneration upon exercise. Based on understanding of molecular mechanism of muscle regeneration upon endurance exercise and resistance exercise, we will further expand our understanding to investi