Research Interests: Muscle physiology; muscle performance and fatigue; electromyography; statistical analysis using autoregressive modeling; tissue engineering; biotechnology; countermeasures; technology development

Current research focuses on the development of novel countermeasures for space-induced muscle atrophy and bone loss as well as new state-of-the-art technology for manned space exploration. This lab develops novel biomedical technology to meet critical health needs and enhance medical care for astronauts in space. An essential element of this process is to generate a variety of novel, customized, tissue-equivalent models for research and technology development. Innovative models for muscle, bone, and a variety of other tissues have been created. These tissue models are used in conjunction with the NASA bioreactor to define microgravity-induced alterations at the cellular level (gene and protein expression). Another area of interest includes development of new methods to assess and predict muscle performance and fatigue using electromyography and statistical modeling. Future research will be directed toward the development of real-time monitoring capability for muscle performance and fatigue for extravehicular activities during planetary surface operations. This approach is also being developed to monitor space-induced muscle atrophy.  Overall, this research produces novel biomedical technology as well as effective countermeasures for both space and medical applications on Earth.  

Students choosing a rotation in this laboratory will have the opportunity to gain expertise in cell culture, tissue engineering, the use of unique cell culture bioreactors including those designed at NASA/JSC, and development of novel biomedical technology to be used as countermeasures and test beds. 
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JOURNAL ARTICLES

Byerly DL, Byerly KA, Sognier MA, Squires WG (2003) Prediction of muscle performance during dynamic repetitive movement. Aviat Space Environ Med. Jan;74(1):69-72.

NASA PUBLICATIONS

Byerly D, Sognier M (2005) Engineering of a three-dimensional tissue equivalent muscle model from waste fat tissue, NASA Research and Technology Development Biennial Report.

Byerly D, Sognier M, Arndt D, Ngo P, Phan C, Byerly K, Weinstein R (2005) Pulsed electromagnetic fields--A novel countermeasure for bone loss and muscle atrophy, NASA Research and Technology Development Biennial Report.

Arndt D, Byerly D, Ngo P, Phan C, Dusl J, Sognier M, Ott M (2005) Microwave Radiation- Therapeutic Applications for Cure of Subcutaneous Bacterial Infections, NASA Research and Technology Development Biennial Report.

Byerly DL, Sognier MA (2003) Determining the Cellular Response to Microgravity Using Three-Dimensional Muscle Models, JSC publication #49656:89-91.

Byerly DL, Applewhite L, Sognier MA (2003) Causes of Microgravity induced Muscle Atrophy assessed using a Three-dimensional Skeletal Muscle Cell Culture Model, NASA Publication. 

Byerly DL (2000) A Statistical Model to Predict Muscle Performance, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Colorado, December.