About
Agnieszka (Aga) hails from Poland, having grown up in a small town near Krakow. Aga earned her bachelor's degree in biology and a master's degree in both experimental and environmental biology, as well as chemistry. After discovering that being a junior high teacher wasn't her calling, she pondered 'Haven't we all dreamt of being a scientist at some point in our lives?'. She embarked on her PhD program in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the Pedagogical University of Krakow. Her doctoral work focused on nanomaterials, particularly metal and metal oxide nanoparticles, exploring their toxicity and interaction with biological and biophysical models. In the last year of her doctoral program, she was awarded a Fulbright Research Traineeship and joined the Aging & Metabolism Research Program at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. Delving into the enigma of skeletal muscle biology and aging, she anchored herself in Oklahoma for a bit longer than she planned, determined to learn more. Now at the Rando Lab, Aga continues to flex her scientific muscles, striving to unlock the fountain of youth– or at least figure out how to enable us to lift heavy grocery bags well into our golden years. Her current study focuses on the lipid signaling and metabolic pathways that might impact muscle stem cells regulation and contribute to age-related changes in stem cell functionality. She is also interested in the therapeutic potential of mitochondrial transplantation. When she's not coaxing stem cells to cooperate under the microscope, you'll likely find her attempting to domesticate her unruly collection of houseplants, diving into the waves of LA's beach life, and on a mission to ensure that the world knows Marie Curie by her TRUE, resplendent, Polish name: Maria SKŁODOWSKA-Curie.
Research Areas: Muscle and muscle stem cells biology and aging, lipid metabolism, lipid signaling pathways, mitochondria biology