Xin Jie Chen
Upstate Medical University, NY·Biology
Two compartments inside cells tend to fail together in aging and in diseases such as Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Mitochondria are the cell's power plants, and they also help control stress responses and cell death.
- Fields
Biology
Biochemistry
Genetics
- Topics
mitochondria
lysosome
vacuole
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Apr 2028
What they work on
- Test in yeast whether specific mitochondrial stresses cause severe protein-handling damage to the vacuole, the yeast lysosome. Use genetic screens to find genes that suppress this signaling and may extend lifespan.
- Validate the mitochondria-to-lysosome stress pathway in cultured mammalian cells. Determine whether mitochondrial precursor overaccumulation stress (mPOS) also damages lysosomes in these cells.
- Test whether mitochondrial stress damages lysosomes and disrupts tissue health in a newly developed mouse model. Determine how this damage arises in non-dividing tissues.
More about the research
Lysosomes are the cell's recycling centers; in yeast the equivalent is called the vacuole. They break down proteins, control acidity and nutrient levels, and carry out autophagy (self-digestion of worn-out parts). This project asks whether mitochondrial damage directly harms lysosomes, and whether this chain of events weakens and kills aging cells.
Why it matters
Mitochondrial and lysosomal defects are both hallmarks of aging and of diseases such as Parkinson's disease and ALS. Uncovering a stress signal running from mitochondria to lysosomes could explain why cells die when both organelles fail. This basic understanding could eventually inform how researchers study and target aging-associated degenerative diseases.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
John Buchan
University of Arizona, AZ·Biochemistry
Define how much each reported clearance route contributes to removing stress granules and P-bodies under disease-relevant stress, and how the routes cooperate. Use genetic, biochemical and cell biology assays in yeast and human cells.
Jeroen Roelofs
University of Kansas, KS·Biochemistry
Determine how proteasome-associated assembly factors, including Pba1-Pba2/PAC1-PAC2, Fub1/PI31, and Blm10/PA200, contribute to sequential versus parallel pathways during the early assembly of new proteasome complexes.
Jingjing Liang
University of Arizona, AZ·Neuroscience
Test how Aggregatin, a protein encoded by the Alzheimer's-linked gene FAM222A, controls TDP-43 clumping and toxicity in neurons, using Aggregatin knockout models.
The school
Upstate Medical University: 7 labs on PI Pages, $59M a year on research, 23 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.