Associate Professor of Nutrition & Exercise Physiology, School of Medicine
Associate Professor of Molecular Pharmacology & Physiology, School of Medicine

NextGen Focus Area: Skeletal Muscle Biology, Aging, Exercise Physiology

Dr. Murach is the principal investigator of the Molecular Muscle Mass Regulation (M3R) Laboratory. Research in the lab uses human muscle samples, primary cell culture, inducible genetically modified mouse models, omics (e.g. methylomics, transcriptomics, proteomics), and computation to understand the molecular cues that drive exercise adaptations and aging, and the interaction between the two. The laboratory also focuses on skeletal muscle pathology in relation to injury and disease.

Precision Health Impact:

• Defining the molecular triggers of exercise adaptation and skeletal muscle mass regulation to help guide therapeutic interventions.
• Understanding how exercise responses can be used to counteract age-associated muscle mass loss and dysfunction and improve healthspan.
• Identifying the cellular bases of muscle adaptability across conditions.

Publications:

• Chambers TL, Wells J, Koopmans PJ, Morena F, Malik ZB, Greene NP, et al. At the Nexus Between Epigenetics and Senescence: The Effects of Senolytic (BI01) Administration on DNA Methylation Clock Age and the Methylome in Aged and Regenerated Skeletal Muscle. Aging Cell. 2025 Jul;24(7):e70068. doi:10.1111/acel.70068 PubMed PMID: 40259517; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC12266783.
• Smith JAB, Murach KA, Dyar KA, Zierath JR. Exercise metabolism and adaptation in skeletal muscle. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2023 Sep;24(9):607–32. doi:10.1038/s41580-023-00606-x PubMed PMID: 37225892; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10527431.
• Murach KA, Mobley CB, Zdunek CJ, Frick KK, Jones SR, McCarthy JJ, et al. Muscle memory: myonuclear accretion, maintenance, morphology, and miRNA levels with training and detraining in adult mice. J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle. 2020 Dec;11(6):1705–22. doi:10.1002/jcsm.12617 PubMed PMID: 32881361; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7749570.
• Thomas NT, Brightwell CR, Owen AM, Keeble AR, Khadgi S, Wen Y, et al. Satellite cells choreograph an immune cell-fibrogenic cell circuit during mechanical loading in geriatric skeletal muscle. PNAS Nexus. 2025 Sep;4(9):pgaf236. doi:10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf236 PubMed PMID: 40901637; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC12400304.
• Koopmans PJ, Jones RG, Cabrera AR, Morena F, Greene NP, McCarthy JJ, et al. The Age-Dependent Resident Myonuclear Multi-Omic Response to an Acute Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophic Stimulus in Mice. Adv Sci (Weinh). 2026 May;13(25):e21633. doi:10.1002/advs.202521633 PubMed PMID: 41704039; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC13137840.

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Email: kmvvt@health.missouri.edu
Department website: https://cafnr.missouri.edu/directory/?division=food-nutrition-and-exercise-sciences&role=&research_area=