A path to the powerhouse: systems-to-structure approaches for studying mitochondrial proteins

The young investigator award from the Protein Society was a special honor for me because, at its essence, the goal of my laboratory is to define what obscure proteins do. Years ago, I stumbled into mitochondria as a venue for this work, and these organelles continue to define the biological theme of my laboratory. Our approaches are fairly broad, reflecting my own somewhat unorthodox training among diverse scientific fields spanning organic synthesis, chemical biology, mechanistic biochemistry, signal transduction, and systems biology. Yet, whatever the theme or the discipline, we aim to understand how proteins work-especially those that hide in the dark corners of mitochondria. Below, I recount my own path into this arena of protein science, and describe how my experiences along the way have shaped our current multi-disciplinary efforts to define the inner workings of this complex biological system.