A University of Texas at Arlington researcher is leading a new study that investigates cardio-sarcopenia—the combined loss of heart and muscle health in aging adults.
Kamal Awad, assistant professor of research in the Bone-Muscle Research Center and faculty member in the Department of Kinesiology, has received the American Heart Association Career Development Award, providing $231,000 over three years. His proposal ranked in the fourth percentile nationally, highlighting its innovation and potential to better understand how changes in heart and skeletal muscle occur together in aging.
“People have been studying sarcopenia, heart failure, and cardiovascular disease separately. However, there hasn’t been a branch that links cardiovascular health to sarcopenia,” said Dr. Awad, who earned his master’s and Ph.D. at UTA.
“The way we see it is that the human body is a single, integrated entity. You can’t really focus on just one system or one organ in isolation because the body works in harmony. The way systems connect and integrate is how they should be studied. This is where the concept of cardio-sarcopenia comes into play and why it needs to be studied.”
Awad said it took multiple submissions and related studies to secure funding. Reviewers ultimately recognized the project’s potentially pioneering research into biomarkers associated with aging, cardiovascular diseases and sarcopenia.
Building on previous related research, there is “a strong metabolic link between the heart and skeletal muscle,” Awad said. The study aims to uncover how heart dysfunction and muscle loss interact and how these processes can be detected earlier and potentially prevented or reversed.
Awad’s approach is shaped by his engineering background, which emphasizes understanding complex systems. Rather than relying on traditional biomedical techniques, his work began with an engineering tool called Raman spectroscopy, which analyzes the molecular composition of materials at a microscopic level.
Using this technique, Awad identified a unique molecular fingerprint in skeletal muscle that had not previously been linked to aging related muscle decline. Viewing the problem through an engineering lens allowed his team to detect this biomarker, helping lay the foundation for the current study.
“My engineering background plays a critical role because engineering is about understanding systems and finding simplicity within complexity,” he said.
Awad will be supported by several UTA colleagues, including his mentor, Marco Brotto, and Michael Nelson. Dr. Brotto, the George & Mary Hazel Jay Endowed Professor, directs the Bone-Muscle Research Center. Dr. Nelson leads the Clinical Imaging Research Center and the Arlington Study of Healthy Aging (ASHA), which will provide the human data for Awad’s study. Other key contributors include Zui Pan, an expert in calcium signaling in cancer and other diseases, and Paul Fadel, who leads the Human Neural Cardiovascular Control Lab.
“This project goes beyond the status quo by using detailed human data from the ASHA study to identify specific molecular pathways and biomarkers that link heart dysfunction to skeletal muscle decline,” Awad said. “The long term goal is to enable earlier detection and more targeted, personalized therapies for older adults at risk. Ultimately, we want to find cause and effect.”
The funding period officially started on April 1.