Rate My Professor Gordon Lynch

Professor Gordon Lynch is a professor in the Department of Anatomy and Physiology in the School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Melbourne's Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences. He is the Director of the Centre for Muscle Research, where his vision promotes the understanding and translational impact of muscle biology across the University of Melbourne and influences the global muscle science community. With more than 25 years of service in the Department of Anatomy and Physiology, he previously headed the Department of Physiology. Lynch leads the Basic and Clinical Myology Laboratory, focusing on cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying skeletal muscle development, regeneration, adaptation, and plasticity. His research addresses muscle wasting and weakness associated with ageing (sarcopenia), cancer (cachexia), disuse, muscular dystrophies, critical illness myopathy, and multiple system atrophy. Key investigations include stem cell self-renewal and metabolism regulating commitment to the myogenic lineage for improved autologous stem cell therapies, the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex to protect muscles from wasting, slow muscle programming for muscular dystrophy and cancer therapy, and factors enhancing gastrointestinal function in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Lynch's laboratory has secured substantial funding, including NHMRC Project Grants for rescuing the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex (2018-2022) and interrogating slow muscle programming in cancer (2022-2025), an ARC Discovery Project on mechanisms of age-related changes in amino acid signaling in skeletal muscle (2019-2022), and others. He has received the Woodward Medal in Science (2015) and the Research Australia Health and Medical Research Advocacy Award (2019). For over 20 years since 2002, Lynch has contributed weekly health and fitness expertise to ABC Radio National's Overnights program, appearing in more than 1040 episodes discussing exercise benefits, nutrition, mental health, cancer prevention, and the need for health research funding. His work seeks to optimise muscle growth and development, enhance repair after injury or trauma, protect against inherited and acquired wasting conditions, prevent frailty in older age, and improve quality of life through muscle function restoration.