Many a researcher has embarked upon a quest to discover a cure for a particular disease. Dr. Tyesha N. Burks — an assistant professor of biology at Bowie State University and an adjunct assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine — is on a mission to remedy the problem that everyone faces even if they avoid or survive a particular disease: aging.
More specifically, Burks — an aging skeletal muscle biologist who was formally trained in human genetics and molecular biology — wants to find a way to help people who reach their twilight years to keep from becoming decrepit.
The condition is termed sarcopenia and it eventually affects all people, irrespective of whether they lead an active or sedentary lifestyle.
To counter the condition, Burks is in search of what she calls the “skeletal muscle fountain of youth.”
Her work has implications for the old and young.
“Everyone is going to get older and a lot of younger people dread being old because it doesn’t look appealing,” Burks says. “But the idea is to promote healthy aging. I would like to see more 90 year olds riding bikes and things like that.”
Burks discovered a passion to combat the ill effects of aging through a serendipitous path.
