Mef2a and muscle regeneration: Christine Snyder

Even exercise can damage your muscles. Muscle cells then need to regenerate to keep you healthy. This month, we talk with Christine Snyder, a graduate student in the lab of Frank Naya at Boston University who studies how muscle regrowth is regulated.

Her work in the Naya lab focuses on a transcription factor (a protein that interacts with the DNA to affect gene transcription) known as Mef2A. Her lab studies mice that lack this transcription factor and show specific deficits in muscle development. She also explains how a technique called RNA interference can be used to silence certain genes to determine their function in cell cultures or animal models. Christine’s work has important implications for manipulating muscle regeneration after disease or injury.

More on the Naya Lab's research