24 March 2006
Vamsi Mootha
Department of Systems Biology, HMS
Center for Human Genetic Research, MGH
Broad Institute
A systematic analysis of a cellular process begins with a complete characerization of its components. Our group is interested in mitochondrial biology, and in particular, the role of this organelle in human disease. Despite its fundamental role in cell biology, we currently know about 1/2 of the estimated 1500 proteins resident in this organelle. In this talk, I will present experimental and computational approaches for expanding this inventory. I will then describe strategies for integrating diverse approaches to make more accurate predictions of mitochondrial localization. The results provide a framework for future systems-level investigations of the organelle. Moreover, they provide a rich set of candidate genes for a collection of rare, but devastating, human mitochondrial diseases.