Mitochondria in neurodegeneration: Investigating the role of mitochondria and metabolism in the cause and therapeutic targeting of neurodegenerative diseases

Mitochondria—the tiny power plants inside our cells—are failing in the brains of people with Parkinson’s disease and motor neuron disease, and this research aims to find out exactly why. These organelles do more than generate energy: they also manage calcium levels and, when they break down, release molecules that damage cells or trigger their death. Keeping mitochondria healthy is especially critical for the brain and heart, which demand enormous amounts of energy over a lifetime. When that maintenance system fails, it is strongly linked to age-related neurodegeneration. Yet the precise mechanisms that keep mitochondria in working order—and what goes wrong in disease—remain poorly understood. This group will use fruit flies and mammalian cells to dissect those mechanisms at the molecular and cellular level. The work is fundamental science: it seeks a deeper understanding of how mitochondria are maintained in healthy nervous tissue and how that process breaks down. If successful, it will not produce a drug tomorrow. But it will guide therapeutic development by revealing specific targets—proteins or pathways—that could be corrected to restore mitochondrial health. Similar fundamental discoveries about mitochondrial biology have already opened avenues for treating rare metabolic disorders, and this research could do the same for common neurodegenerative diseases.