Fellowship success for future leader in ageing research
Dr Mark Burton has secured a prestigious fellowship to improve understanding of muscle loss in later life.
The Vivensa Foundation Proleptic Fellowship is awarded to promising researchers in the ageing field. It will support Dr Burton’s transition to a permanent position within academia.
This is his next step after a Bridging Fellowship from the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre (BRC).
Dr Burton’s work focusses on sarcopenia. The condition, which affects almost three million people in the UK, causes a loss of muscle mass and function in older age.
With this new award, he will continue looking into the molecular changes that cause sarcopenia to develop.
Improving understanding of sarcopenia
People with sarcopenia can become weak and frail as it progresses. The condition is a major cause of lost independence in older age.
A previous project generated preliminary data in support of Dr Burton’s fellowship application. This was a collaboration with a spin-out company called TopMD. The project also involved other NIHR Southampton BRC researchers, including Professor Keith Godfrey and Dr Harnish Patel.
The researchers used sequencing data to show molecular changes in blood taken from people with sarcopenia. It was compared to blood from healthy older adults.
They measured levels of molecules called small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs). These control gene expression.
‘New and exciting’ developments
Alterations in levels of specific sncRNAs may reflect changes in ageing and muscle dysregulation.
Gaining a better understanding of these changes is key to identifying biomarkers of ageing and sarcopenia. This could lead to advances in diagnosis and treatment in the future.
Dr Burton said: “This collaboration has allowed us to work on something completely new and exciting. There is a huge amount of useful information when we look at the data in high resolution. This provides vital new insights that might support future treatments for sarcopenia.
"The Vivensa Foundation fellowship will build on these and previous findings using muscle tissue and blood serum. It will integrate information from sncRNAs, RNAs and circulating metabolites to help us understand the complete disease signature.”
BRC support
Dr Burton is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Southampton. His research forms part of the NIHR Southampton BRC’s Nutrition, Lifestyle and Metabolism theme.
He was awarded a one-year BRC Postdoctoral Bridging Fellowship in May 2024. These fellowships support researchers while they apply for external funding.
Dr Burton added: “I would like to give special thanks to my current mentor, Prof Godfrey, and my supervisor, the late Prof Karen Lillycrop, for their leadership, inspiration and support. I am energised and excited to take this research forward.”