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Perocchi Lab - Research

To adapt to changing environments cells must signal. Recent advances in mitochondrial studies show that mitochondria play a key role in cell sensing and cell signaling. These organelles undergo dynamic and complex remodeling of shape, motility, metabolism, and proteome in response to environmental stimuli and energetic requirements during growth and development. The failure of mitochondria to integrate into signal transduction cascades is indeed the most common cause of inborn errors of metabolism. It is also linked to virtually all age-associated diseases and to autoimmunity, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

Although, we have made tremendous progress in identifying the mitochondrial proteins of several tissues and organisms, we know very little about how these individual parts are coordinated in response to both physiological and pathological stimuli.

  • What are the molecular links between cellular signals and mitochondrial responses?
  • What are the mitochondrial proteins that sense, modulate, and propagate cellular signaling cascades?
  • How is the mitochondrial signaling “toolkit” regulated?

Our goal is to characterize mitochondrial signal transduction cascades that occur in response to physiological and pathophysiological stimuli. We develop experimental and computational strategies to predict, test, and reverse the effects of genetic and chemical perturbations on several mitochondrial functions. Our approach is Systematic, because it employs large-scale, unbiased survey of mitochondrial physiology, and it is Integrative, because it combines heterogeneous yet complementary data-sets.

If you are interested to learn more about our research, do not hesitate to contact Dr. Fabiana Perocchi at perocchi@lmb.uni-muenchen.de.