Advancing age is associated with a decline in both the regenerative and self-renewing capacities of skeletal muscle stem cells, contributing to poor health and physical function in older adults. While significant advances have been made in identifying mechanisms underlying the age-related impairment to stem cell regenerative potential, less progress has been made in understanding how old age impairs stem cell self-renewal. Our laboratory has identified discrete cytoplasmic granules termed processing bodies (P-bodies) to be sites of mRNA storage and coordination critical to self-renewing muscle stem cells. We have proposed that the age-related dissolution of P-bodies may underlie the decline of the muscle stem cell pool, and that restoring P-body function in old age may replenish the stem cell niche. In the long term, our goals are to identify therapeutic targets for the restoration of the muscle stem cell niche in order to restore health and function to a geriatric population.