Mitochondria are vital cellular organelles which perform an armada of metabolic, biosynthetic and signaling functions. While initially perceived as isolated, static organelles, convergent advances in light microscopy allowed us to appreciate that mitochondria form an interconnected network, communicate with other cellular organelles, and rapidly modulate their structure to adjust to cellular needs. Mitochondrial network morphology is shaped by opposing events of fission and fusion, which are tightly regulated. Disruptions in these processes can lead to bioenergetic defects and are linked to various human diseases. But despite the inevitable link between mitochondrial structure and function, it remains unclear how these organelles integrate cellular cues to remodel their network structure, consequently adjusting their function.

Our group studies how mitochondria are dynamically remodeled to support cellular metabolism and tissue specific functions. For this we employ a range of super-resolution microscopy techniques, automated AI-based data analysis and omics approaches, to investigate how mitochondrial are remodeled at different levels- from ultrastructural changes to inter-organellar cross talk and network remodeling.