Praval Khanal

Title: Genetics of Sarcopenia

PhD summary

Sarcopenia is a phenomenon characterized by loss of muscle mass and muscle strength and finally impair the activities of daily living. These losses and impairment with increasing ages are affected by several factors including physical activity level, food habit and diseases. The losses onsets quite early in some individuals while some of them can still maintain their muscle mass and strength in old age. The genetic reasons behind such differences are not clearly studied.

My research at Health Exercise and Active Living (HEAL) Research Centre is focused on understanding how muscle mass and muscle strength are changing in accordance with increasing ages and to study the influence of genetics on those changes. I am involved in measuring several muscular phenotypes/parameters like muscle architecture and strength from different muscles from elderly (60 years and above) female population. The difference in phenotypes are then compared with the polymorphisms associated with some candidate genes of interest, primarily involved in muscle performance.

Dates

September 2015- September 2018

Funding

MOVE-AGE (Erasmus Mundus Scholarship)

Institution name

Manchester Metropolitan University

Supervisors

  • Dr Christopher Morse (DoS)(MMU)
  • Prof Martine Thomis (KU Leuven, Belgium)
  • Dr Gladys Onambele Pearson (MMU)
  • Dr Georgina Stebbings (MMU)
  • Dr Alun Williams (MMU)
  • Prof Hans Degens (MMU)

Discipline area

Genetics

Biography

In 2014, Praval graduated from Banaras Hindu University with a MSc in Molecular and Human Genetics and immediately joined as a lecturer in Purbanchal University, Nepal. After 1 year of teaching experience as a lecturer, he started his PhD in Manchester Metropolitan University.

Contact details

email: praval.khanal@stu.mmu.ac.uk