Background and experience
Professor Adam P. Sharples began his career as a professional Rugby League player in the UK before moving into academic training in human physiology, completing a BSc and MSc that established his expertise in human performance, metabolism and training adaptations. He later completed a PhD on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of skeletal muscle ageing, followed by a Post‑Doctoral Fellowship developing lab‑grown human muscle micro‑tissues to study muscle growth, wasting, ageing and exercise responses.
He then spent almost 7 years at Liverpool John Moores University, the UK's top‑ranked institution for research quality in Sport and Exercise Sciences, progressing from Lecturer to Senior Lecturer and Reader (Associate Professor) in Molecular Physiology and Epigenetics. His work focused on skeletal muscle biology and the epigenetic regulation of muscle adaptation. Professor Sharples later joined Keele University's Faculty of Medicine, a top ten UK medical school, where he served as Director of the MSc in Cell and Tissue Engineering and expanded his research in molecular exercise biology and bioengineered muscle systems.
In 2019, he joined the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences and was promoted to Full Professor in 2020. He now leads an internationally recognised research programme investigating how human skeletal muscle adapts to exercise, disuse and ageing, with a particular focus on epigenetic muscle memory, adaptive capacity and the molecular mechanisms that shape musculoskeletal health across the lifespan. His research aims to understand how biological memory influences adaptation to exercise, inactivity and ageing, with the broader goal of identifying mechanisms that preserve muscle function and healthy ageing throughout life.
See details under Research below.
Areas of responsibility
Professor of Molecular Physiology and Epigenetics
Head of Research Group:
Molecular Physiology and Epigenetics Research Group
Co-Lead of Research Group:
SHAPE - MusculoSkeletal Health, Adaptation and PErformance Research Group (website coming soon)
Head of Laboratory:
Teaching
Teaching in:
- Cell Biology
- Molecular Exercise Physiology
- Skeletal Muscle Biology
- Epigenetics
Academic responsibility for:
- Cell Biology / Focus on Molecular Exercise Physiology (THP301)
- Bachelor's Thesis (THP307)
Also teaches Molecular Exercise Physiology in:
- Exercise Biology and Sport Performance Analysis 2 (MA461)
Supervises bachelor's and master's students in research projects and theses.
Research
Professor Sharples leads an internationally recognised research programme in molecular physiology, skeletal muscle biology, ageing and epigenetics. His group was the first worldwide to demonstrate that human skeletal muscle possesses an epigenetic memory of muscle growth (hypertrophy) after exercise and that molecular memory signatures also persist after repeated periods of muscle loss (atrophy) after physical inactivity in both young and aged muscle. His laboratory investigates how DNA methylation regulation shapes muscle adaptation, growth, wasting and reprogramming with age, disease and exercise. Recent work has demonstrated that repeated periods of inactivity can induce transcriptional resilience in young muscle but heightened susceptibility to repeated muscle loss in aged muscle, further highlighting biological memory as an important determinant of adaptative capacity during ageing.
Professor Sharples is ranked 6th globally for skeletal muscle research over the last five years and is listed in the top 2 percent of scientists worldwide based on career-long citation impact metrics (Elsevier and Stanford University). His work has produced over 100 publications/research outputs, including papers in high impact journals such as Physiological Reviews, Nature Aging, Trends in Genetics (Cell Press), Advanced Science, Journal of Cachexia Sarcopenia and Muscle, Biomaterials, Aging Cell, Cell Reports (Cell Press), Scientific Data (Nature), Journal of Cellular Physiology, Journal of Physiology and AJP - Cell Physiology. His research on epigenetic muscle memory has been cited extensively and has driven major advances in understanding how human skeletal muscle remodels in response to training, disuse and ageing.
His discoveries have attracted widespread global media attention in outlets including: The New York Times, The Atlantic, Wired Magazine, The Guardian, NewScientist, CNN, Discover Magazine, Aftenposten, NZZ and TV2 Norway. Most recently, The Atlantic featured new findings on the molecular biology of muscle memory, highlighting the impact of his group’s work on public and scientific understanding of muscle adaptation.
Professor Sharples has led a major Research Council of Norway project (10 million NOK) examining whether human skeletal muscle retains a molecular memory of wasting and identifying mechanisms that influence adaptive capacity and susceptibility to age-related atrophy.
Professor Sharples currently leads the TESTO-MEM clinical trial (Does Human Skeletal Muscle Possess an Epigenetic Memory of Testosterone?), a randomised placebo-controlled clinical study investigating whether short-term testosterone administration can induce long-term molecular and physiological adaptations in ageing human skeletal muscle. The project examines whether skeletal muscle retains an epigenetic memory of prior testosterone exposure through persistent DNA methylation signatures and cellular adaptations that enhance later retraining responses. The study combines human interventions, muscle biopsies, muscle stem cell biology, epigenomics and transcriptomics to understand how anabolic hormones influence muscle memory, adaptive capacity and healthy ageing. The ultimate goal is to determine whether biological memory mechanisms can be leveraged to preserve muscle function and responsiveness during ageing.
He is also an investigator for major Novo Nordisk Foundation research programme: Epigenetic Memory of Mitochondrial Function in Ageing Skeletal Muscle (EMMA), funded with DKK 16.99 million (EUR 2.28 million; NOK 26.8 million). The EMMA consortium integrates deep multi omics (methylome, transcriptome, proteome, metabolome), human intervention studies and mechanistic cell biology across leading Nordic institutions. Professor Sharples leads the advanced omics, molecular physiology and human muscle cell biology components at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, supported by approximately NOK 9 million of the total award. The programme seeks to understand how mitochondrial function, biological memory and molecular adaptation influence muscle adaptation and healthy ageing, with the ultimate goal of improving our understanding of how skeletal muscle function is maintained throughout life.
EMMA has also been selected to coordinate the Nordic Metabolic Ageing Research Network, supporting shared resources, standards, data exchange, early career researcher development and annual Nordic workshops. This platform strengthens Nordic leadership in metabolic ageing and builds capacity for high-impact mechanistic science at the interface of epigenetics, mitochondrial biology, exercise physiology and skeletal muscle ageing. By facilitating collaboration, data sharing and early-career researcher development, the network seeks to accelerate discoveries that promote healthy ageing and lifelong physical function.
Collectively, Professor Sharples' research seeks to understand how biological memory influences skeletal muscle adaptation to exercise, inactivity and ageing, and how these mechanisms shape muscle function throughout life.