Newly published CU Â鶹ӰԺ research reveals previously unknown qualities of a gene vital to a cell’s mitochondrial structure and function

A key takeaway from first-year biology is that mitochondria are the powerhouses of cells—it’s the thing most people know about them.

However, mitochondria perform a large array of functions for cells beyond generating the chemical energy that powers a cell’s biochemical reactions. They play a role calcium signaling and storage, signaling between cells and cell death. And through these various and vital mitochondrial functions, a master regulator is the OPA1 gene.

For a long time, researchers have known that OPA1 plays a crucial role in mitochondria. For example, OPA1 helps maintain the architecture of the mitochondria’s inner membrane. Without that maintenance, a protein, cytochrome c, can leak into the cell and trigger cell death at the wrong time.

While researchers have long known that OPA1 is vital to mitochondria and mitochondrial membranes in human cells, not much has been known about how OPA1 does its work. But  in the journal Nature sheds new lights on how OPA1 helps reshape mitochondrial membranes and how that translates to cellular health.

Halil Aydin, a CU Â鶹ӰԺ assistant professor of biochemistry, led research that discovered surprising plasticity in the vital OPA1 gene.

“We’ve known for a long time that this gene exists, we know that it’s important in a variety of diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, neurodegenerative disease,” says principal investigator Halil Aydin, a Â鶹ӰԺ assistant professor of biochemistry. “What we didn’t know is how it functions. Our goal is to understand how it works and then in the future use that as a blueprint for developing therapeutic strategies or drugs.”

Read more in Rachel Sauer's article in Arts and Sciences Magazine...

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The awards are part of $1.88 million in 2023 biomedical research grant funding for Colorado researchers 

Halil Aydin is one of three Â鶹ӰԺ assistant professors who have been named 2023 Boettcher Investigators, each earning $235,000 in grant funding to support up to three years of biomedical research. The 13-year-old program invests in leading Colorado researchers during the early stages of their careers, providing support to fund their independent scientific research.

The three CU Â鶹ӰԺ award winners and their fields of study are: 

• Nuris Figueroa, assistant professor, physics; studying the mechanics of mucus organization and transport; 
• Halil Aydin, assistant professor, biochemistry; investigating cellular and molecular mechanisms of mitochondrial form and function in human health and disease; and  
• Nick Bottenus, assistant professor, biomedical, mechanics of materials, and robotics and systems design in the College of Engineering and Applied Science; studying binding kinetics of targeted microbubble agents.

Funding for the awards is made possible in part by the  program, which is administered by the 

“It’s an honor to be acknowledged by a distinguished organization,” Aydin said of the Boettcher Foundation. “The Boettcher Foundation Webb-Waring Biomedical Research Award will grant our laboratory the opportunity to develop novel approaches and push the boundaries of high-resolution imaging and structural cell biology to advance our understanding of how cellular machines function normally, and how they are corrupted by disease. An integrative understanding of how protein machines function has implications for targeting cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders, cancers, aging and a wide range of neurodegenerative diseases.” 

Halil Aydin is an expert in membrane biology, cell signaling, proteins and enzymology, molecular biophysics, structural biology, and electron cryo-microscopy (cryoEM).

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