Investigators set to answer mitochondria questions
By Bill Snyder
October 9, 2009
In the movie “Cocoon,” older people regain the vigor of youth when they swim in a pool filled with alien cocoons. That idea, minus the aliens, might not be so far-fetched.
Vanderbilt scientist Deborah Murdock, Ph.D., has received a five-year, $1.8 million “transformative” R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health to answer fundamental questions about mitochondria, which produce energy for the cell, and which are linked to muscle wasting disorders.
“We lose mitochondria in our muscle as we age,” said Murdock, an investigator in the Center for Human Genetics Research and research assistant professor of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics. “If we could find a way to alleviate that depletion, we might find a way to age better.”
Scientists believe that mitochondria evolved from bacteria to become a specialized cellular subunit responsible for powering the cell and playing a key role in apoptosis, programmed cell death, a key function in multi-cellular organisms.
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