Hyun-Jung received a 2020 U.M. Medical Faculty Association Award for Best Research
Hyun-Jung is currently a postdoctoral Associate at Stanford University
News
Dr. Flavia Fontanesi publishes in NAR
Flavia Fontanesi directed the work of Jeffri-Noelle Mays and led a three-lab collaborative effort that resulted in the publication on a paper in Nucleic Acids Research. The paper, entitled “The mitoribosome-specific protein mS38 is preferentially required for synthesis of cytochrome c oxidase subunits” can be found at https://academic.oup.com/nar/advance-article/doi/10.1093/nar/gkz266/5436776 Authors: Jeffri-Noelle Mays, Yolanda Camacho-Villasana, Rodolfo Garcia-Villegas, Xochitl Perez-Martinez, Antoni […]
Tania Perez receives the ASB Meeting Oral Presentation Award
Tania Perez recently attended the 2019 Meeting of the Association of Southeastern Biologists (ASB) where she completed an oral presentation titled “Investigating the Assembly Pathway for the Yeast Mitoribosomal Small Subunit” in the Cell and Molecular Biology category. She was awarded the Lafayette Frederick Underrepresented Minorities Scholarship–which supported her attendance of the conference. Furthermore, Tania […]
Priyanka and Eva received AHA postdoctoral fellowship awards
Congrats to Dr. Eva Nyvltova and Dr. Priyanka Maiti, who received postdoctoral fellowships from the American Heart Association (AHA).
Tania wins the Best poster presentation award at the ABRCMS 2018 Symposium
Congratulations to Tania Perez, who did an outstanding job presenting her work on the assembly pathway of the small ribosomal subunit in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Three-Lab collaborative effort to study Mitochondrial Supercomplexes
The mitochondrial respiratory chain is organized in a dynamic set of supercomplexes (SCs). The COX7A2L protein is essential for mammalian SC III2+IV assembly. However, its function in respirasome (SCs I+III2+IVn) biogenesis remains controversial. To unambiguously determine the COX7A2L role, we generated COX7A2L-knockout (COX7A2L-KO) HEK293T and U87 cells. COX7A2L-KO cells lack SC III2+IV but have enhanced complex III steady-state levels, activity, […]
The RNA Club at UM is back!
Following a couple of years of rest, the RNA Club organized by Dr. Murray Deutscher (Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) and Dr. Antoni Barrientos is back. The first presentation will take place on November 14, 2018. Title: “The human Obg-family GTPase GTPBP10 is required for mitochondrial ribosome maturation” Presenter: Dr. Priyanka Maiti; Introduction to the […]
Priyanka reports the function of the human ObG-family GTPase GTPBP10 in mitochondrial ribosome maturation
Most steps on the biogenesis of the mitochondrial ribosome (mitoribosome) occur near the mitochondrial DNA nucleoid, in RNA granules, which contain dedicated RNA metabolism and mitoribosome assembly factors. Here, analysis of the RNA granule proteome identified the presence of a set of small GTPases that belong to conserved families of ribosome assembly factors. We show […]
Hyun-Jung describes the function of the GTPase MTG1 in mitochondrial ribosome biogenesis
Mammalian mitochondrial ribosomes (mitoribosomes) synthesize 13 proteins, essential components of the oxidative phosphorylation system. They are linked to mitochondrial disorders, often involving cardiomyopathy. Mitoribosome biogenesis is assisted by multiple cofactors whose specific functions remain largely uncharacterized. Here, we examined the role of human MTG1, a conserved ribosome assembly guanosine triphosphatase. MTG1-silencing in human cardiomyocytes and […]
Rui Zeng and Hyun-Jung Kim graduated
Rui Zeng and Hyun-Jung Kim, two graduate students from the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology program at the University of Miami have graduated. Congratulations! Rui is already in China following postdoctoral training. Hyun-Jung will start in Novembre 2018 at Stanford University (CA).
Rui publishes the first yeast mitoribosome assembly map
Mitoribosomes are specialized for the synthesis of hydrophobic membrane proteins encoded by mtDNA, all essential for oxidative phosphorylation. Despite their linkage to human mitochondrial diseases and the recent cryoelectron microscopy reconstruction of yeast and mammalian mitoribosomes, how they are assembled remains obscure. Here, we dissected the yeast mitoribosome large subunit (mtLSU) assembly process by systematic genomic […]
Andrea has been awarded with the HDSA HD Human Biology Project Fellowship
Andrea Ruetenik, Ph.D.candidate in the program of Neuroscience at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine has been elected as one of the Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA)’s 2018 Human Biology Project Fellows. Her proposal entitled “The protective role of NAD salvage pathway proteins against mutant huntingtin toxicity” received a two-years funding.
A collaborative effort to decipher the role of the helicase Mss116 in mitochondrial ribogenesis and translation
Several members of our group (Dasmanthie De Silva, Sarah Poliquin, Rui Zeng, Natalie Marrero, Flavia Fontanesi and Antoni Barrientos) in collaboration with the group of Dr. Xochitl Perez Martinez have reported that Mss116 plays an important role in COX1 mRNA translation in S. cerevisiae by interacting with the COX1 mRNA translational activator Pet309. The article […]
Hyun-Jung and Priyanka publish a review paper in Seminars in Cancer Biology
In this article, we have reviewed the current knowledge regarding the dual function of mitoribosome components in protein synthesis and apoptosis and their association with cancer susceptibility and development. We have also highlighted recent developments in targeting mitochondrial ribosomes for the treatment of cancer.
Zoe nominated as the best 2017 UM undergrad BMB student
Zoe Cosner was awarded The David G. Anderson Price for outstanding University of Miami undergraduate biochemistry and molecular biology major class 2017. The award honors Dr. David G. Anderson (1923-2010), who served as undergraduate advisor for many years until his retirement in 1980. A native of South Dakota, Anderson served in the U.S. Navy during the […]