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The Skeletal Muscle Biology and Exercise Physiology [SMEP] study section reviews applications concerned with molecular, cellular, physiological and integrative studies of normal and altered skeletal muscle function and processes that range from molecular genetics, to structure-function relationships, to integrative and functional studies on human mobility and exercise, and health. Integrative studies include development and aging, as well as gender and ethnicity differences in muscle function. Therapeutic and preventive interventions as they relate to skeletal muscle function are included, as are studies of the biochemistry and molecular biology of skeletal muscle and injuries, and diseases of muscle. Specific areas covered by SMEP:

• Biochemical and molecular biological research on skeletal muscle-specific proteins
• Studies of isolated skeletal muscle cells in normal and altered states: excitation-contraction coupling, and calcium regulation; muscle biomechanics; cell-cell/cell-matrix interactions including pathways of signal transduction; physiological evaluation of skeletal muscle gene function; stem and satellite cell biology; regulation of skeletal muscle energy and substrate metabolism including mitochondrial function.
• Studies of skeletal muscle as a tissue: molecular and cellular mechanisms of skeletal muscle adaptation, growth, injury, repair, degeneration, and regeneration; effects of exercise and inactivity, maturation, nutrition, and the aging process on skeletal muscle function, protein turnover, and metabolism; normal and abnormal neural control of muscle fiber type and molecular phenotype; non-invasive imaging of skeletal muscle properties, metabolism, and mechanical dynamics; skeletal muscle biology of sarcopenia and cachexia.
• Integrative functions: effects of exercise on maintenance of functional capacity of muscle and on pathology due to inherited disease, aging, and inactivity; physiologic interactions between skeletal muscle and other organ systems in normal and disease states when skeletal muscle function is the primary focus.
• Skeletal muscle diseases: evaluation of genetics, gene function, and development of vertebrate and invertebrate genetic models; pathophysiology of skeletal muscle disorders and diseases, including the muscular dystrophies, atrophy, myotonia, periodic paralysis, malignant hyperthermia, and inflammatory myopathies; pharmacological interventions and pre-clinical approaches; cell and gene therapies for skeletal muscle diseases.

Study sections with most closely related areas of similar science listed in rank order are:

Cell Mechanisms in Aging and Development [CMAD] 
Cellular Aspects of Diabetes and Obesity [CADO] 
Cardiac Contractility, Hypertrophy, and Failure [CCHF]  
Respiratory Integrative Biology and Translational Research [RIBT]  
Musculoskeletal Tissue Engineering [MTE]