Mitochondria are the engines that drive cellular life, but these complex machines are vulnerable to a wide range of breakdowns, and hundreds of their component parts remain a functional mystery.
Dave Pagliarini, director of metabolism for the Morgridge Institute for Research and UW-Madison associate professor of biochemistry, is working to identify the more than 200 proteins associated with mitochondria that currently have no defined function. Pagliarini is collaborating with the lab of Josh Coon in the Department of Biomolecular Chemistry. Completing this process will give science a complete map of mitochondrial function and help discover the origins of more than 150 poorly understood diseases associated with mitochondria.
To read more about the pair’s work, see the link below.