Our group has a deep interest in understanding the biology of human mitochondria with a specific focus on how these important organelles maintain their DNA and how they produce functional RNA species.
We combine structural approaches with functional biochemistry and cell biology in order to investigate essential mitochondrial processes in molecular and cellular detail. Our structural analysis is primarily based on single particle cryo-EM and cryo-electron tomography. By gaining fundamental mechanistic insights into mitochondrial DNA maintenance and RNA maturation, our lab hopes to shed light on the molecular triggers of mitochondrial disorders that are frequently caused by mutations in the involved protein factors.