NSF grant awarded for research

Denison University Assistant Professor of Biology Jenna Monroy has been awarded a grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for collaborative research on muscle function. A grant of $45,635 has been awarded this year; the award is expected to total $139,328 over three years. The grant includes research opportunities for undergraduate students to test predictions of muscle contraction theories, especially the winding filament hypothesis. A comparative physiologist, Monroy researches the roles of the nervous and musculoskeletal systems in determining performance.

Despite decades of work, a predictive model of muscle force during natural movements remains elusive. The researchers will test the hypothesis that important properties of muscle can be explained by the winding filament hypothesis. Results from the research will be integrated into graduate and/or undergraduate courses at Denison University, Northwestern University and Northern Arizona University.

“The proposed work has significant potential to inform our understanding of how neural activation and applied forces together determine in vivo muscle force,” said Monroy. “Our results will be public and available for scientists to build future research on.”