Welcome to the Bionergetics Group!
Mission
The vision of our research is to unravel the molecular mechanisms involved in spatio-temporal OXPHOS organization and the consequences for mitochondrial quality control in health and disease. The functionality of mitochondria under certain demands and threats is closely associated with ultrastructural and morphological changes of the organelles, albeit the relation is not fully understood. Thus, a main focus of my studies lies on the dynamic features including the mobility of mitochondrial membrane proteins, plasticity of the inner mitochondrial membrane and morpho-dynamic changes of the mitochondrial network by fusion and fission dynamics controlled by trafficking along the cytoskeleton. In particular, we are interested to dissect mitochondrial heterogeneity in terms of function.
Approach
We study mitochondria in live mammalian cells with diverse advanced microscopic methods. To determine function on the mitochondrial level in situ, we continuously develop and refine fluorescent reporter systems for high and superresolution imaging. Different transgenic cell lines are used to investigate basic mitochondrial morpho-functional interrelations and the overall significance of organelle and protein dynamics. The spatio-temporal organization of OXPHOS complexes is addressed by dual color superresolution fluorescence and immuno-electron microscopy. We currently set up correlative microscopy as well.
