Bioactive targets of mitochondrial quality control and function
Dr Michelangelo Campanella and his Mitochondrial Cell Biology and Pharmacology Research Group have been awarded a BBSRC LIDo iCASE studentship with Nestle Institute of Health Sciences.
Stress is a constant of our daily life and still we don’t know how to measure it and why we all respond differently to it.
In this project we shall look at the mitochondrial pathway TSPO that we acknowledge being a stress response element as rapidly accumulated following chemical and metabolic cues. With the support and partnership of the Nestle Institute of Health Sciences and active engagement of Dr. Philipp Gut (Head of the Chemical Biology Unit), we shall test this using both in vitro and in vivo systems namely engineered Zebrafishes in collaboration with Dr. Claire Russell. This project will allow us to screen libraries of metabolites and dietary components to understand whether TSPO may be a sentinel molecule for stress in complex systems as well as a target to develop “de-stressing” approaches for both human and animal wellbeing.