Claire Brown was awarded the SAFE Grant to work on her project titled “Sarcomere Modeling to Determine Changing Elasticity of Cardiac Muscle”.
Funds from a SAFE grant allowed Brown to further her undergraduate research through the purchase of lab equipment that was pivotal in the continuation of her project. With support from mentor Dr. Brooke Hester, associate professor and Undergraduate Program Director, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Brown investigated how heart muscle changes as it ages or becomes diseased and hoped to discover a way to strengthen the cells of the muscle tissue, minimizing heart disease. This research is both applicable to the general public and in the space industry, as astronauts who spend long periods of time in zero gravity often have compromised muscle tissue.
Click this link to read the full article.
