The Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences NIHS ^{Research Labs}

The Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences does fundamental research for the understanding of health and disease and for developing science-based targeted nutritional solutions for the maintenance of health. The members of the Institute study the molecular, cellular and nutritional mechanisms leading to the dysfunction of skeletal muscle during aging, particularly the condition of sarcopenia, in which muscle mass and muscle function decline due to age. Sarcopenia involves multiple pathophysiological processes such as impaired neuro-muscular transition, altered excitation/contraction coupling, impaired regenerative capacity linked to stem cell exhaustion, defects of mitochondrial and energy metabolism in myofibers, and finally marbling of skeletal muscle with fat and fibrosis. Their recent work has demonstrated that neuromuscular dysfunction is a major driver of sarcopenia and that remodeling of the extracellular matrix (ECM) during muscle regeneration is blunted in the aged muscle stem cell niche and can be targeted therapeutically.