Identifying the muscle typology of athletes: the Muscle Talent Scan

Event Details

Date:

Monday, 15 May 2017

Time:

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Room:

219

UQ Location:

Human Movement Studies Building (St Lucia)

Event category(s):

Full Description:: Human skeletal muscles are composed of a mixture of fast (white) and slow (red) fibres. Some people have predominantly fast fibres, and are born sprinters, and others have relatively more slow fibres, and are destined to become endurance athletes. This fibre type distribution is largely genetically determined and therefore it is an important factor in identifying athletic talent in various sports. The reason why this important aspect was almost never measured (until now) in sport science practice, is because it required an invasive muscle biopsy.

However, Prof Wim Derave and his team recently developed a technique that can accurately estimate the muscle fibre type composition without biopsies, thus non-invasively, by an MRI scanner.

The aim of this presentation is to summarise the current status of the research on the Muscle Talent Scan and discuss the various applications and research opportunities, such as in muscle injury prevention and training/recovery advice.

Prof Wim Derave is from the Department of Movement and Sports Sciences at Ghent University (Belgium), where he leads a research team in exercise physiology, sport nutrition and muscle metabolism.