Mandy Miller Koop

Pieter (or PJ) Koopmans first received his bachelor’s degree in Exercise and Sport Science from University of Wisconsin- La Crosse. More recently, he graduated with his master’s degree in Exercise Science from Appalachian State University under the mentorship of Dr. Kevin Zwetsloot in his Integrated Muscle Physiology Lab and was nominated as the departmental Outstanding Graduate Student in Research.

He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where he is working as a doctoral research fellow in Dr. Kevin Murach’s M3R Lab investigating the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate muscle mass and exercise adaptations. He is particularly interested in the epigenetic regulation of skeletal muscle, such as DNA methylation and miRNA expression, and its in implications in exercise adaptations, ageing, and the phenomena known as "muscle memory".