Alicia Pickrell

Mitochondrial dysfunction and mutated mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) are key pathophysiological features of all major neurodegenerative diseases. With over 600 neurological disorders affecting an estimated 50 million Americans, the need for understanding the events preceding and contributing to neurodegeneration are crucial for our increasingly growing aged population. Considerable efforts in the mitochondrial research field are currently focused on understanding the basic mechanisms of how mitochondrial processes work, such as mitophagy (the selective removal of damaged mitochondria) and the mitochondrial unfolded protein response. Newly developed transgenic reporters mouse models are currently underway to study these newly defined mitochondrial processes.