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Recent studies examining the impact of nutrition on lifespan indicate that the balance of protein intake is a key determinant but the underlying mechanisms are not yet clear. Dietary amino acid insufficiency can reduce growth, but can also act to increase resistance to surgical stress, improve metabolic fitness and slow metabolic aging. This uncoupling between growth and health raises important questions concerning the relationship between amino acid nutrition and protein homeostasis. This project seeks to understand how variations in amino acid nutrition alter protein synthesis and breakdown in the liver and skeletal muscle of mice. To understand how amino acid nutrition regulates protein balance, we will feed wild type and knockout mice experimental diets and monitor metabolic and molecular responses over time. Measurements collected in this project may include: body weight and composition, energy expenditure, protein synthesis (Ribosomal profiling), gene expression (qPCR, RNA sequencing), protein expression (immunoblotting), plasma concentrations of amino acids (HPLC).
Applicant must be LSAMP eligible.
The Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program at Rutgers University-New Brunswick is a non-medical science program sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The program is designed to increase the interest, retention, graduation, and success of students from racial and ethnic groups historically underrepresented in non-medical (STEM) fields (i.e., Black/African American, Hispanic/Latinx, Native American/Alaskan, Pacific Islander).
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