Research
Current Postdoctoral Research
I am currently a postdoctoral researcher working across the Meisel and Pandelia labs at Brandeis University, studying the biochemistry and underlying genetics of mitochondrial diseases.
My research focuses on characterizing the late-acting pathways that assemble, deliver, and regulate Fe-S clusters, alongside exploring related clinical diseases in model organisms and recombinant systems. To explore this field, I combine in vitro biochemical reconstitution with in vivo C. elegans genetics.
Lab Affiliations
- Meisel Lab, Brandeis University (Postdoctoral research)
- Pandelia Lab, Brandeis University (Postdoctoral research)
- D’Autreaux Lab, University Paris-Saclay (Ph.D. research)
- Hemsworth Lab, University of Leeds (Master’s research)
Ph.D. Research
My doctoral research was performed under the mentorship of Dr. Benoit D’Autreaux at the Institute for Integrative Biology of the Cell (I2BC), with my doctorate in Biochemistry and Structural Biology awarded by the University Paris-Saclay.
This work focused on characterising the interactions and activity of FXN and FDX2 during the assembly of [2Fe-2S] clusters using a combination of biochemical, biophysical, and genetic techniques. This work led to the discovery that ferredoxin-2 (FDX2) and frataxin (FXN) must be intricately balanced for optimal [2Fe-2S] cluster synthesis efficiency, and that FDX2 has an unexpected auto-inhibitory role of slow persulfide transfer during [2Fe-2S] synthesis. Bringing this work together, we showed that decreasing the concentration of FDX2 significantly extends lifespan in a Friedreich’s Ataxia (FRDA) model of D. melanogaster, thus opening a new therapeutic avenue for treatment of FRDA.
Before this work, the project was focused on the design of novel therapeutics including small molecules and short peptides to treat FRDA.