WEBINAR SERIES—Science of Aging—Experimental Muscle Mechanics in Aging and Disease

June 2, 2021
11 a.m. EDT

The focus of this webinar is the mechanisms underlying muscle impairment associated with aging and age-related diseases, including the regulation of muscle contraction at motor protein, single muscle fiber and whole muscle levels in experimental and clinical settings. Rizwan Qaisar, PhD, of the University of Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates, studies the contributions of muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) stress and calcium dysregulation to loss of muscle mass and strength. Reduced calcium uptake by muscle SR plays a pivotal role in muscle impairment in aging while boosting SR calcium uptake with pharmacological activators can partially restore muscle mass and strength. Matthew Borkowski of Aurora Scientific Inc. in Canada, will share a technical overview of the experimental equipment used in this research. Borkowski will discuss design and component functionality as well as the applications, measurements and data can be explored and captured with this system.

Presenters

Rizwan Qaisar earned his PhD from the University of Uppsala in Sweden and has performed postdoctorate research with the University of Pavia in Italy and the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. His work focuses on the pathophysiology and interventions of muscle impairment in sarcopenia in experimental and clinical settings.

Matthew Borkowski is a biomedical engineer and a graduate of the University of Toronto. He has been involved in product design and customer support at Aurora Scientific for over 10 years. He spends much of his time in the lab consulting with scientists, assisting with novel application of Aurora Scientific instruments in various disciplines, including muscle, tendon and connective tissue research.