I am a PhD student in mitochondrial biology, studying mitochondrial function in chronic kidney disease related sarcopenia.

Sarcopenia is the medical term for loss of muscle mass and function that accompanies several pathologies, e.g. diabetes, malnutrition, cancer, and chronic kidney disease. Often, mitochondrial dysfunction is cited as a contributary cause of sarcopenia. But the measures that are interpreted as 'dysfunction' could plausibly be an adaptation to reduced energy demand, as the real cause of sarcopenia may be impaired cellular mechanisms that maintain muscle, which in turn use less ATP - the currency of cellular energy that mitochondria supply.

Understanding the balance between impaired ATP supply and demand is key to effective interventions to reverse the decline in muscle.

 

The goal of my project is to use metabolic control analyses to determine the distribution of control between ATP supply and demand, in skeletal muscle myotubes that have been exposed to the toxins that accumulate in kidney disease.

 

My director of studies is Dr Jane Carré. Dr Charlie Affourtit and Dr Michael Wilde complete my supervisory team.