Meeting room: Amphitheatre Brocca
Mitochondrial Dynamics and Cardiac Function: Exploring Metabolic Control and Network Behavior in Heart Health and Disease
Sonia Cortassa and Miguel Aon
National Institute on Aging
National Institutes of Health, USA
Organized by Sandrine Pouvreau (Magendie) and Giovanni Bénard (MRGM)
Programme
14h : Miguel A Aon et Sonia Cortassa
15h30 : Flash communication de 5 minutes
16h : Pot de l’amitié
17h : Table-ronde pour les jeunes chercheurs
Mitochondria are pivotal hubs within the web of energetic and redox processes in eukaryotic cells, playing a crucial role in sustaining aerobic life. Mitochondrial networks, observed in diverse cell types including heart and skeletal muscle cells, neurons, and astrocytes, extend beyond traditional biochemical circuit diagrams and morphological analysis to exhibit collective dynamics, termed oscillations. These oscillations are significant as they span multiple organizational levels, from individual cells to tissues and entire organs.
Since the early 1990s, Drs. Sonia Cortassa and Miguel A. Aon have conducted groundbreaking research exploring how mitochondrial activity oscillates over time and the physiological repercussions of these oscillations. Their pioneering studies revealed that sub-minute oscillations in mitochondrial activity can regulate glycolysis, thereby coordinating ATP production in both yeast cultures and cardiomyocytes. Notably, in cardiac muscle, mitochondria organize into a regular lattice network across the myocardial syncytium, akin to a power grid. This network functions dynamically as a series of coupled oscillators, demonstrating highly correlated and coordinated behavior that results in synchronized action. Drs. Cortassa and Aon’s work emphasizes the essential role of these intricate spatiotemporal mitochondrial functions in physiological signaling and how network failures during severe energy crises can lead to severe pathophysiological outcomes, including fatal arrhythmias.
Recent research by Dr. Aon and collaborators has revealed a higher-order organization within morphologically and functionally coupled mitochondrial clusters in axons. This work notably demonstrates an increase in cluster formation following nerve damage, highlighting dynamic responses of mitochondrial networks within neurons to injury.
Drs. Aon and Cortassa’s scientific careers have spanned over five countries, starting from Córdoba, Argentina—where Dr. Aon earned a Master’s degree in Engineering and a PhD in Chemical Sciences, and Dr. Cortassa obtained a Bachelor/Master in Biological Chemistry and a PhD in Chemical Sciences at the National University of Córdoba—to their current roles in the United States at the National Institute on Aging of the NIH. Their intermediate years included nearly six years in Europe for postdoctoral and sabbatical appointments in France, the Netherlands, and Germany.
Their research interests and contributions cover a wide spectrum of fields, including Biochemistry, Biophysics, Microbiology, and Computational Biology. They have been pioneers in studies of self-organization, nonlinear dynamics, and, more recently, the computational systems biology of mitochondria and metabolic networks in heart and aging. The work they will discuss today is based on over twenty years of research conducted at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the National Institute on Aging at the NIH in the USA.
Les doctorants et post-doctorants sont encouragés à présenter des communications flash de 5 minutes afin de stimuler la discussion avec les orateurs et l’audience. Ils peuvent également partager des résultats préliminaires.
Vous êtes chercheur et souhaitez discuter avec les invités ? Merci de contacter Mélina Abdou (melina.abdou@u-bordeaux.fr) afin de mettre en place des créneaux de rencontre.from Marsicano's lab will give a presentation entitled ...
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