Speaker
Description
Homotypic mitochondrial contact sites are rare and some exhibit a regular lattice-like bridging pattern between neighboring mitochondria, called intermitochondrial junctions (IMJs). In human T cells IMJs occur in a subpopulation of cells but their function, protein identity and structure remain unknown. T cell activation and memory cell formation is controlled by mitochondrial activity and dynamics. Here we use cryo-ET, sub tomogram averaging and super-resolution microscopy to characterize the structure and function of IMJs in primary human T cells. We currently develop super-resolution live-cell microscopy approaches to functionally characterize the effect of IMJs on mitochondrial dynamics its control of T cell activation and memory formation.
