About MuSkLE

The MuSkLE (Musculo-Skeletal system, Locomotion & Exercise) School is part of the Graduate+ initiative that the University Claude Bernard Lyon 1 is developing in the context of the SFRI program funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR).

The overall purpose of the MuSkLE consortium is to set up a network of close to 600 scientists and clinicians in Saint-Etienne and Lyon specialized in the study of the musculoskeletal system, locomotion and exercise. MuSkLE aims at identifying the impact of physical exercise, in particular locomotor activities, on the entire musculoskeletal system in different physiological (e.g. aging, nutrition) and pathophysiological (e.g. osteoporosis, neuromuscular diseases, cancer, inflammatory rheumatism) contexts.

The objective is to break down the borders between fields to propose a true interdisciplinary research on this theme from a molecular to an integrative level, using different models (drosophila, zebrafish, rodents, athletes, patients...). In addition, exercise has been consistently described as a ‘polypill’ to prevent and care multiple diseases but the posology still has to be defined, i.e. the intervention still has to be tailored to the patients. This original and multi-scale approach will allow significant advances in the understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms involved in musculoskeletal disorders and investigate the role of physical activity to address these issues.

The MuSkLE consortium is coordinated by Dr Rémi Mounier and Prof. Vincent Pialoux.