RESEARCH
Physiology of Mitochondrial Calcium Transport
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One of the primary focus areas in the lab is the molecular physiology of mitochondrial calcium transport, specifically via Mitochondrial Calcium Uniporter (MCU) and other newly discovered membrane transporters.
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MCU is macromolecular channel complex composed of a pore-forming MCU subunit, an essential MCU subunit called EMRE and several EF-hands domain containing MICU1–3 subunits.
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We aim to answer: how these molecular machines work, how their dysregulation lead to human disease, and how can we target their gating mechanisms to design therapeutics?
Mitochondrial Abnormalities and Organismal Physiology
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We are interested in how organisms adapt to defects in mitochondrial functions like inborn errors in metabolism, bioenergetics, and defects in membrane excitability.
A deeper understanding of these abnormalities and associated organismal adaptations will reveal fundamental signal transduction mechanisms that can be exploited for targeted therapeutics.