Damon Runyon Researchers

Dr. Luo [HHMI Fellow] is focusing on the interplay between energy-producing mitochondria and the nucleus inside mammalian cells. Mitochondria contain their own small genome that encodes some proteins, but the vast majority are encoded in the cell's nucleus. The communication between mitochondria and the nucleus to produce the proteins necessary to properly function is tightly controlled, and its dysregulation has been implicated in human diseases including cancer. Dr. Luo is using ribosome profiling in parallel with CRISPR to quantitatively monitor translation (the process of protein production from RNA) on the mitochondrial surface and identify key regulators of this process. She hopes gaining an understanding of the underlying mechanism will yield fundamental insights into mitochondrial biology and its role in disease.