Rejuvenating the Mitochondria

A Google TechTalk, 12/09/16, presented by Matthew O'Connor ABSTRACT: "Engineering Approaches to Combating the Diseases and Disabilities of Aging: Rejuvenating the Mitochondria." This is a talk for a general audience on the work of the SENS Research Foundation to fight age related diseases with a focus on repairing the damage that accumulates as we age. The SENS Research Foundation recently published a paper on their research into repairing cells that lack two of the thirteen essential mitochondrial proteins. The SRF scientists were able to reengineer the two mitochondrial genes and move them to the nucleus of the cell, restoring the missing proteins. This work is significant for both its impact on treating age related diseases but also on childhood diseases resulting from a lack of certain mitochondrial proteins. About the speaker: Matthew was awarded his Master's degree at Northwestern Medical in 1999 for his work studying behavioral neuroscience in aged rodents. In 2005, at Baylor College of Medicine he received a PhD in Biochemistry for his work on proteins that regulate human telomeres. Postdoctoral research includes work at UC Berkeley on muscle stem cells and aging. Since 2010, Dr. O'Connor has headed up the MitoSENS project at the research center in Mountain View, California. His research is focused on "allotopic expression" of mitochondrial genes where his team is engineering mitochondrial genes to be expressed from the nucleus and targeted to the mitochondia. Since 2012 Dr. O'Connor has had broad oversight over many areas of research at SRF. Matthew O'Connor is passionate about performing basic research to combat the diseases and disabilities of aging.