Mitochondria-Organelle Biology

Mitochondria are essential organelles in fundamental cellular processes, encompassing energy production, programmed cell death, and calcium homeostasis. Of note, mitochondria form physical contacts and communicate with the other organelle such as, vacuole, peroxisomes, and endoplasmic reticulum. We attempt to elucidate the dynamics, functions, and modulation of the emerging network of mitochondria and connected organelles to understand the molecular basis of various neurological diseases.

Molecular Modeling of Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder that is thought to have both neurochemical aspects and neurodevelopmental aspects (neuronal positioning, neuronal polarity and neurite outgrowth, etc) in the pathogenesis. This complexity has hindered establishment of the genuine molecular model explaining the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. We attempt to understand the physiological functions of candidate susceptibility genes to establish a molecular model for the schizophrenia pathogenesis from the neurobiological point of view