Science in 60—Gayathri Muthukumar

Written by

Shafaq Zia

Mitochondria generate energy that powers chemical reactions within cells, but they also play other vital roles in regulating cell metabolism, activating innate immune response, and initiating programmed cell death.

Gayathri Muthukumar, a graduate student in Whitehead Institute Member Jonathan Weissman’s lab, is investigating how the outer mitochondrial membrane (OMM), which is a hub for signaling proteins, helps regulate mitochondrial functions. Her research aims to uncover how changes in the OMM’s protein make-up can fine-tune the behavior of individual mitochondria.

Topics

Cell Biology
Protein form and function

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Jonathan Weissman stands smiling in the lab.

The Weissman Lab studies how proteins fold in the cell and how this process can go awry, causing disease. The lab also builds innovative tools for exploring organizational principles of biological systems including ribosome profiling, which globally monitors protein translation, and CRISPRi/a for controlling the expression of human genes and rewiring the epigenome.

 

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