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MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit

 
Read more at: Big Biology Day 2019

Big Biology Day 2019

9 October 2019

Great fun was had on Saturday, 5 October when members of the MBU took various activities to Hills Road Sixth Form College for Big Biology Day 2019. The event was attended by visitors of all ages, who tried out our new Mito-gami activity, along with our "Destroying Mutant Mitochondrial DNA" game and mtDNA sequencing puzzles...


Read more at: Succinate accumulation drives ischaemia-reperfusion injury during organ transplantation

Succinate accumulation drives ischaemia-reperfusion injury during organ transplantation

26 September 2019

An interdisciplinary study led by Mike Murphy of the MBU and the Department of Medicine, and Kourosh Saeb-Parsy of the Department of Surgery has just been published in Nature Metabolism . In collaboration with colleagues in the MRC Cancer Unit and the University of Glasgow , they were interested in finding out why organs...


Read more at: Reaching out to Lowestoft and Beccles

Reaching out to Lowestoft and Beccles

20 September 2019

On 18 and 19 September 2019, Dr Martin King visited three schools and a sixth form college in Suffolk, giving a 'masterclass' on mitochondrial biology, an overview of life at university (and Cambridge!) and helping with university interview techniques. This tour was arranged in collaboration with Kathryn Singleton, School...


Read more at: Global Mitochondrial Disease Awareness Week

Global Mitochondrial Disease Awareness Week

16 September 2019

This week, 15-21 September 2019, is Mitochondrial Disease Awareness Week. Around the world Global Mitochondrial Disease Awareness Week (GMDAW) will be marked with educational, fundraising and advocacy efforts designed to raise awareness about mitochondrial disease (mito). The MBU's website will follow a green theme for the...


Read more at: Development of an alternative MtDNA mutator model for APOBEC1

Development of an alternative MtDNA mutator model for APOBEC1

25 July 2019

Stochastic mutations in the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) have been linked to many diseases, and their accumulation has been proposed to act as a driving force in the ageing process itself. For the past 15 years the main animal model used to study this phenomenon has been the ‘mutator’ mouse, harbouring a proofreading...


Read more at: Structure of F1-ATPase from the obligate anaerobe Fusobacterium nucleatum

Structure of F1-ATPase from the obligate anaerobe Fusobacterium nucleatum

26 June 2019

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the fuel of life, is produced by a molecular machine consisting of two motors linked by a rotor. One generates rotation by consuming energy derived from oxidative metabolism or photosynthesis; the other uses energy transmitted by the rotor to make ATP from adenosine diphosphate and phosphate...


Read more at: Permeability transition in mitochondria

Permeability transition in mitochondria

16 June 2019

Mitochondria generate the cellular fuel, adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, to sustain complex life. Production of ATP depends on the oxidation of energy rich compounds to produce a chemical potential difference for hydrogen ions (or proton motive force, pmf), across the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM). Disruption of the...


Read more at: Tenured Professorship for Edmund Kunji

Tenured Professorship for Edmund Kunji

14 June 2019

The General Board of the Faculties of the University of Cambridge has recommended that, with effect from 1 October 2019, a Professorship be established for Dr Edmund Kunji (assigned to the Department of Clinical Neurosciences). Congratulations!


Read more at: David Sabatini MD PhD delivers the 7th Annual Sir John Walker Lecture

David Sabatini MD PhD delivers the 7th Annual Sir John Walker Lecture

3 June 2019

The 7th Annual Sir John Walker Lecture, ‘Regulation of Growth and Metabolism’, was delivered on Thursday, 30 May 2019, by David Sabatini , MD, PhD. Professor Sabatini is a member of the Whitehead Institute and Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He studies the pathways that regulate...


Read more at: Mitochondria interact with the cell's nucleus in subtle ways previously unseen in humans

Mitochondria interact with the cell's nucleus in subtle ways previously unseen in humans

24 May 2019

Results of a collaborative research study involving MBU scientists, " Germline selection shapes human mitochondrial DNA diversity ", published in Science today suggest that changes in human mitochondrial DNA are shaped by our nuclear DNA. University of Cambridge press release