ABSTRACT
Teaching bioinformatics is a longstanding challenge for educators who need to demonstrate to students how skills developed in the classroom may be applied to real world research. This study employed an action research methodology which utilised student-staff partnership and peer-learning. It was centred on the experiences of peer-facilitators, students who had previously taken a postgraduate bioinformatics module, and had applied knowledge and skills gained from it to their own research. It aimed to demonstrate to peer-receivers, current students, how bioinformatics could be used in their own research while developing peer-facilitators' teaching and mentoring skills. This student-centred approach was well received by the peer-receivers, who claimed to have gained improved understanding of bioinformatics and its relevance to research. Equally, peer-facilitators also developed a better understanding of the subject and appreciated that the activity was a rare and invaluable opportunity to develop their teaching and mentoring skills, enhancing their employability.
ABSTRACT
A common characteristic of ageing is disrupted homeostasis between growth and atrophy of skeletal muscle resulting in loss of muscle mass and function, which is associated with sarcopenia. Sarcopenia is related to impaired balance, increased falls and decline in quality of life of older people. Ageing-related transcriptome and proteome changes in skeletal muscle have been characterised, however the molecular mechanisms underlying sarcopenia are still not fully understood. microRNAs are novel regulators of gene expression known to modulate skeletal muscle development and homeostasis. Expression of numerous microRNAs is disrupted in skeletal muscle with age however, the functional consequences of this are not yet understood. Given that a single microRNA can simultaneously affect multiple signalling pathways, microRNAs are potent modulators of pathophysiological changes occurring during ageing. Here we use microRNA and transcript expression profiling together with microRNA functional assays to show that disrupted microRNA:target interactions play an important role in maintaining muscle homeostasis. We identified miR-181a as a regulator of the sirtuin1 (Sirt1) gene expression in skeletal muscle and show that the expression of miR-181a and its target gene is disrupted in skeletal muscle from old mice. Moreover, we show that miR-181a:Sirt1 interactions regulate myotube size. Our results demonstrate that disrupted microRNA:target interactions are likely related to the pathophysiological changes occurring in skeletal muscle during ageing.
