Allegheny Research Project Sparks a Global Career in Muscle Science

"I originally had my eyes on medical school, and for that, a research experience is typically mandatory," says Hessel, who was a biologymajor with a double minor in political science and history.

The search for research experience turned into a passion that has taken him from a salamander study in a Meadville lab to helping run a global biotechnology company and earning one of Germany's top honors for young physiologists.

As an Allegheny junior, Hessel approached biology professor Lisa Whitenack about research opportunities. After winter break, she returned with a project on salamander biomechanics. "Long story short, I started the project, won money for a summer research experience through Allegheny's Christine Scott Nelson Fund, and then continued the project during my senior year," he says.

The research focused on salamander jumping mechanics, and Hessel quickly noticed something intriguing. "They did not have the muscle power to perform the jumps they did, so they must be storing energy somewhere in the muscles for later use, similar to how humans do when we squat down to then jump up."

Hessel shared his findings at the Erie Regional Science Consortium and won the award for best poster. "At that point, 20-year-old Anthony was recognized for an academic achievement for the first time in his life, and it really made an impression," he recalls. "I realized that I enjoyed this stuff, and people seemed to respect the work."

His salamander research also appeared in two scholarly, peer-reviewed publications.

That experience, and the confidence it built, set Hessel on a path toward studying the mechanics of muscle itself. After graduation, he earned both a master's and a doctorate through Northern Arizona University. Today, he's a muscle physiologist at the University of Münster in Germany, conducting research that explores how our muscles work at the most fundamental level.

"At the University of Muenster, I have a German Research Foundation grant to study the role of two specific muscle proteins in cardiac and skeletal muscle," Hessel explains.

The team works with genetically engineered mice in which two critical proteins, titin and myosin-binding protein C, can be selectively turned off. "In humans, whenever these proteins are altered, debilitating and life-threatening diseases follow," he says. "But in these mouse lines, the muscle tissue functions normally until we add something that immediately alters the proteins, allowing us to see the exact effect."

To study those effects, Hessel uses high-powered X-rays generated at particle accelerators, known as synchrotrons, around the world. "Think of a car mechanic who pops the hood of a car to look at the engine while it runs," he says. "I do this with muscle motor proteins." It's specialized, time-consuming work, but it has yielded important discoveries about how muscles function and how diseases develop.

That same fascination with muscle dynamics also led Hessel to co-found Accelerated Muscle Biotechnologies (AMB), a company with offices in Boston, Massachusetts, and Hamburg, Germany. One of his business partners is also his wife, Anna Sobolov Good '13, who holds a master's in business administration.

"AMB was originally founded to create more streamlined analysis tools for muscle X-ray datasets," he says. "But as we developed the business, it became clear there was an appetite from the community to have better access to this technique in general."

Now, AMB provides muscle research services for scientists around the world, including academics and biotech firms working on drug discovery and delivery. "We are a company of cardiac and skeletal muscle scientists for the muscle community," says Hessel.

His global collaborations have given him perspective on the international nature of modern science. "There are maybe two dozen people worldwide who have the 10-plus years of specialized training to handle this research," he says. "My job is to find them, bring them together, and facilitate their greatness."

In 2025, Hessel received the Du Bois Reymond Prize, one of Germany's top honors for early-career physiologists. "Muscle research consumes my life, and I am addicted to it," he says with a laugh. "It is my job and my hobby, the thing I still want to do even when on vacation."

"I'm so incredibly proud of Anthony's achievements," says Whitenack. "Even though salamander jumping wasn't what he had in mind for research, he was willing to try something new and it led to an entirely new career path that has been making an impact on biomedical science."

For current Allegheny students dreaming of a similar path, Hessel's advice is simple: "To be an expert in anything, one gives their full attention to a very small piece of a field for decades. Motivation of that sort comes more from the intrinsic passion for the topic."

He pauses, then sums up his journey from a curious college junior to an award-winning scientist and entrepreneur: "Follow the pathways that get you most excited."