HFSP Research Grant

ICFO Prof Michael Krieg, leader of the Neurophotonics and Mechanical Systems Biology research group has recently been awarded a research grant from the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) for the project Intracellular selection and dynamics of mitochondrial ageing. The HFSP funding program is a highly competitive and prestigious award that supports innovative basic research into fundamental biological problems with emphasis placed on novel and interdisciplinary approaches that involve scientific exchanges across national and disciplinary boundaries. The project  will involve an international team based at the UC Santa Barbara and LMU Munich.

"We are currently studying how mechanical stress collaborates with age in the etiology of nervous system disorders and early-onset neurodegeneration in genetic model organisms,” explains Krieg. “This grant will allow us to take this a step further to determine how age affects mitochondrial health and vice versa. Because of the highly competitive nature of this program/grant, it will also allow us to attract talented researchers to our group and help us to form collaborations with other international leaders in Europe and the US."

Mitochondria are known as the powerhouses of the cell because they provide cells with energy. The protein complexes that facilitate energy supply are assembled by proteins encoded in the nuclear as well as the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA). Cells contain many copies of mtDNA, whose nucleotide sequences can vary, a state known as heteroplasmy. It is well documented that mtDNA integrity declines during ageing, which in turn contributes to ageing phenotypes. The goal of the researchers in this project is to understand age-associated mtDNA decay and its interplay with physiological changes during ageing at the single cell level. To accomplish this goal, they will develop approaches to monitor mtDNA health and physiological parameters by optofluidic cell sorting and high resolution microscopy in ageing cells and to obtain single cell mtDNA sequence information along ageing cell lineages. Because age-associated mtDNA deterioration is common from yeast to humans, their findings will provide broad fundamental insights into healthspan determining mechanisms.

Congratulations Michael!