Education & Human Development

Redox Biology & Cell Signaling Laboratory

Research Interests

Molecular and biochemical mechanisms by which oxidative stress drives muscle wasting models (aging, disuse) including redox and stress protein modulation of the dystroglycan complex, protein degradation, and apoptotic signaling.

Research Impacts All

Redox regulation of inflammation, damage, and impaired repair mechanisms in respiratory muscles (e.g., diaphragm) with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

Exercise Research, Better Health

Healthy living research: Exercise protection against stress and fibrosis in the aging heart, and mechanisms by which exercise training protects alterations in oxidative stress and satellite cells in aging skeletal muscle.

Better Living Through Research

The Redox Biology & Cell Signaling Laboratory (RBCSL) is dedicated to investigating the role of pro-oxidants in normal skeletal muscle function as well as skeletal muscle dysfunction with physical inactivity and disease. Pro-oxidants such as free radicals (e.g., nitric oxide, superoxide) and other reactive species (e.g., hydrogen peroxide, lipid peroxides) are produced inside the body as a function of metabolism, and contribute to many healthy functions including growth, killing invading bacteria, and control of blood flow.

Our goals are two-fold: (a) to reduce the human suffering and increase the quality of life of Texans and Americans afflicted by skeletal muscle wasting with heart disease, muscular dystrophy, etc., and (b) to substantially reduce the risk and incidence of modern chronic disease by improving the function and antioxidant state of skeletal muscle.

The Redox Biology & Cell Signaling Laboratory has consistently published its findings in journals of high quality and impact including the American Journal of Physiology, Journal of Applied Physiology, and Free Radical Biology & Medicine. In addition, our students have won numerous awards and grants at the national, state, and local levels.