Peggy Biga

Peggy R. Biga

Associate Professor of Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Chapter Leader: Alabama SSN
Areas of Expertise:

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(205) 934-9684

About Peggy

Dr. Biga's research focuses on understanding the mechanisms regulating skeletal muscle growth, repair, and metabolism. Currently, Dr. Biga's research is centered on how parental nutrition affects offspring growth and metabolism, with particular interest is how mom's dietary intake of specific nutrients affects her offspring in terms of growth potential and metabolic health. Additionally, Dr. Biga is interested in science policy related to nutrition, food, health, climate, and higher education. Dr. Biga is co-director of the new Science Policy Graduate Certificate Program at UAB.

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Contributions

How Health Disparities Can be Reduced through Educational Gains and Improved Coordination of Community Services

Basic Facts Brief,

Publications

"Revisiting the Paradigm of Myostatin in Vertebrates: Insights from Fishes" (with Jean-Charles Gabillard, P.Y. Rescan, and Iban Seiliez). General and Comparative Endocrinology 194 (2013): 45-54.

Summarizes the knowledge about myostatin in growth.

"Zebrafish and Giant Danio as Models for Muscle Growth: Determinate Versus Indeterminate Growth as Determined by Morphometric Analysis" (with Frederick William Goetz). American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology 291 (2006): 1237-37.

Defined how varying growth paradigms, or life-long growth potentials, are present in closely related species. This work led to a major aspect of my research program's focus on identifying mechanisms regulating organismal growth.

"The Isolation, Characterization, and Expression of a Novel GDF11 Gene and a Second Myostatin Form in Zebrafish" (with SR Roberts, DB Illiev, LAR McCauley, and FW Goetz). Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part B: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology 141, no. 2 (2005): 218-230.

Details the identification of a second myostatin gene and an evolutionarily conserved GDF-11 gene in zebrafish. This work provided the groundwork for expanding our knowledge of the GDF genes in muscle growth.

"The Effects of Recombinant Bovine Somatotropin (rbST) on Tissue IGF-I, IGF-I Receptor, and GH mRNA Levels in Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus Mykiss)" (with Kenneth Cain, Ronald Hardy, Ken Overturf, Gerald T. Schelling, and Troy L. Ott). General and Comparative Endocrinology 153, no. 3 (2004): 324-33.

Details an early evaluation of how growth hormone locally affects the expression of insulin-like growth factor genes in skeletal muscle tissue.

"Growth Hormone Differentially Regulates Myostatin-I and –II and Increases Circulating Cortisol in Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus Mykiss)" (with Kenneth Cain, Ronald Hardy, GT Schelling, Kenneth Overturft, SB Roberts, Frederick William Goetz, and TL Ott). General and Comparative Endocrinology 138, no. 1 (2004): 32-41.

Describes how growth hormone acts locally at the muscle tissue level to regulate genes important in cell cycle maintenance.