By Elizabeth Chapin

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 9, 2021) — Findings from a new University of Kentucky College of Medicine and College of Health Sciences study add to growing evidence that resistance exercise has unique benefits for fat loss.

Mission

Kevin Murach, PhD, didn’t always want to be a researcher. But, with the encouragement of several mentors through his career, Murach (now a post-doctoral fellow with the Center for Muscle Biology) is part of an elite team of scientists whose projects have been consistently funded at the federal level. 

A new clinical trial initiated by University of Kentucky researchers argues against the hypothesis that the diabetes drug metformin could help exercising seniors gain more muscle mass. The double-blind trial, conducted at the University of Kentucky and University of Alabama at Birmingham, found that older adults who took metformin while performing rigorous resistance exercise training had smaller gains in muscle mass than the placebo group. The results of the trial were published in Aging Cell, Sept. 26.

On Feb. 20, the UK College of Health Sciences hosted the inaugural Myron and Elaine Jacobson Innovation Award Symposium at UK's Chandler Hospital.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov 15, 2016) — University of Kentucky researchers have unraveled a mechanism that regulates skeletal muscle growth in response to resistance exercise. Their findings, published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, provide insight into the processes that underlie the decline in muscle function associated with aging or with diseases such as muscular dystrophy.

The University of Kentucky and University of Alabama at Birmingham are partners on a $2.9 million, five-year National Institute on Aging clinical study to explore how Metformin may benefit older adults who do not respond well to exercise. 

Metformin, a generic drug and the most widely prescribed drug for type 2 diabetes, may be a low-cost, personalized approach to prevent frailty in the elderly by improving their muscle growth response.

Professional athletes often spend hours in a gym working to build strong healthy muscles needed to keep them at the top of their game. But strong muscles help all humans maintain peak physical performance – the non-athlete, the young and the old – and can prevent frailty later in life, a condition that can exacerbate an illness and even shorten one's life. According to Charlotte Peterson, co-director of the Center for Muscle Biology at the University of Kentucky, "muscle powers health."