Susan V. Brooks, Ph.D. | Institute of Gerontology

Research Associate Professor, IoG
Associate Professor of Physiology
Medical School
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
College of Engineering

300 North Ingalls
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2007
Tel: (734) 936-2147
Fax: (734) 936-2116
Email: svbrooks@umich.edu

Susan Brooks’s research focuses on the mechanical properties of whole muscles and single muscle fibers primarily for investigations of the effects of aging, injury, and exercise conditioning on skeletal muscle structure and function.

• The frequency and magnitude of injury are increased by aging and decreased through conditioning.

• The mechanisms underlying differences in susceptibility to injury as well as whether injury contributes to the progressive wasting and weakness associated with aging are investigated using a combination of in vivo and in vitro experiments.

• Understanding the tissue, cellular, or molecular adaptations responsible for the protection from contraction-induced injury provided by exercise conditioning is also an area of active investigation.

• We are also interested in the effects of injury and aging on the coupling between muscle fiber excitation and the release of activating Ca2+ into the myoplasm. These experiments involve monitoring intracellular [Ca2+] and measuring single fiber mechanics simultaneously.

Selected Publications:

Brooks, S.V. and Faulkner, J.A. The magnitude of the initial injury induced by stretches of maximally activated muscle fibres in mice and rats increases in old age. Journal of Physiology (London), 497: 573-580, 1996.

Brooks S.V., Opiteck J.A., and Faulkner J.A. Conditioning of skeletal muscles in adult and old mice for protection from contraction-induced injury. Journal of Gerontology, 56A: B163-B171, 2001.

Koh T.J. and Brooks S.V. Lengthening contractions are not required to induce protection from contraction-induced muscle injury. American Journal of Physiology: Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 281: R155-R161, 2001.

Pizza F.X., Koh T.J., McGregor S.J., and Brooks S.V. Muscle inflammation following passive stretches, isometric contractions, and lengthening contractions. Journal of Applied Physiology, 92: 1873-1878, 2002.

Koh T.J., Peterson J.M., Pizza F.X., and Brooks S.V. Passive stretches protect skeletal muscles of adult and old mice from lengthening contraction-induced injury. Journal of Gerontology, 58A: B592-B597, 2003.