Emily Beck

The Beck Laboratory is interested in understanding genetic and physiological interactions of mitochondria. Mitochondrial dysfunction is common and can present as a breakdown of any of the processes regulated by mitochondria leading to prevalent diseases including Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, diabetes, and hyperactive brain disorders. As a community, we have struggled to understand mito-nuclear dynamics and their impacts on organismal health. This is in part because genomic variation – in both the nuclear and mitogenomes – can impact severity of mitochondrial dysfunction. What is needed are studies focused on the role of genetic variation in mito-nuclear dynamics. Accounting for mitogenomic variation has been a major challenge because we are limited in our ability to edit the mitogenome and most animal models are limited in their mitogenomic variation. The Beck Lab focuses on using evolutionary mutant models (EMMs) or animals with evolved adaptations that mimic something disease-causing in humans. We are looking for animals with genetic or physiological modifications to their mitochondria that humans lack. We aim to learn what these animals are doing right that humans are doing wrong to identify gene therapy targets for mitochondrial disease.