The Future of Medicine will come through Mitochondria


Prof. Volkmar WeissigWe are excited to invite you to the 17th World Mitochondria Scoiety's Annual Meeting, happening from October 21–23, 2026, in Berlin. This annual event brings together top experts in mitochondrial research and medicine to share new discoveries and ideas in mitochondrial therapy, gene treatment, and mitochondrial transplantation.

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Glucose Metabolism Control of T Cell Immunity

Targeting Mitochondria 2021 Ming Li V1Prof. Ming Li, from Immunology Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, USA will give a presentation entitled "Glucose Metabolism Control of T Cell Immunity".

Prof. Ming Li is a Member of the Immunology Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Professor at Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences.  His laboratory studies immune regulation and its relevance to diseases including cancer.  Recent work has focused on the signaling, metabolic, and transcriptional mechanisms of T cell regulation as well as tumor-elicited innate and adaptive immune responses, and how this knowledge can be translated for novel cancer immunotherapies.  Dr. Li has received a number of honors including a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Faculty Scholar Award, a Rita Allen Foundation Scholar Award, an American Cancer Society Scholar award and the 2016 American Association of Immunologists (AAI)-BD Bioscience Investigator Award for outstanding contributions to the field of immunology.

Targeting Mitochondria 2021 Congress
October 27-29, 2021
Berlin, Germany & Virtual Congress
www.targeting-mitochondria.com

 

The Bioenergetics Consequences of Winter Cold in Small Birds

Targeting Mitochondria 2021 Andreas NordDr. Andreas Nord, researcher in evolutionary ecology at Lund University, Sweden, will present his study on "The Bioenergetics Consequences of Winter Cold in Small Birds".

Dr. Nord highlighted: "Small birds at high latitude face converging energetic challenges in winter, when low air temperature increases the energy cost of staying warm at the same time as short day length and snow constrain refuelling opportunities. The thermoregulatory adaptations that permit existence in such environments are well studied on organismal levels, but analogous processes in the cellular machinery fuelling thermoregulation are poorly understood. In this talk, I will outline how seasonal and diurnal changes in mitochondrial function interact with whole-animal physiology to help birds stay warm when it is cold".

Please follow this link to read detailed news on his research.

 

Targeting Mitochondria 2021 Congress
October 27-29, 2021
Berlin, Germany & Virtual Congress
www.targeting-mitochondria.com

 

Circulating Mitochondrial DNA as an Early Indicator of Severe Lung Disease

Targeting Mitochondria 2021 Andrew E GelmanProf. Andrew E. Gelman from Washington University School of Medicine, USA will give a presentation entitled "Circulating Mitochondrial DNA as an Early Indicator of Severe Lung Disease".

Prof. Gelman will discuss how cell-free mitochondria DNA levels have been used to evaluate the severity of solid organ injury.  He will also cover the implications of cell-free mitochondrial DNA findings in several pulmonary diseases including COVID-19. Additionally, Prof. Gelman will talk about the possible tissue origins of cell-free mitochondria DNA and whether it is the result of an overexuberant immune response or a sign of mitochondrial dysfunction.

Targeting Mitochondria 2021 Congress
October 27-29, 2021 - Berlin, Germany & Virtual Congress
www.targeting-mitochondria.com

 

Deciphering strategic interactions between mitochondrial and nuclear genome

Targeting Mitochondria 2021 Jose Antonio EnriquezDr. José Antonio Enríquez from Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III, Spain. Dr. Enríquez  will give a presentation entitled "Deciphering strategic interactions between mitochondrial and nuclear genome".

Dr. Enríquez has done probably the most advanced studies on nuclear-mitochondrial interactions and their effect on organisme longevity and health. He focuses on distinct combinations of nuclear and mitochondrial genomes and their effect at the organismal level (lifespan, health condition, predisposition to disease), as well as investigates the underlying mechanism including respiratory complexes and supercomplexes.
Last year he published a seminal paper  in Science Advances showing the dynamics of non-pathogenic heteroplasmy (segregation of one of the two mtDNA genomes in different tissues) and their dependence on OXPHOS performance (PMID: 32832682). See also a recent review (PMID: 33369015) on the interactions between mitochondrial and nuclear genome.

mitochondria figure

Heteroplasmic mouse models harboring in the same cytoplasm, different non‐pathological mtDNA variants‐haplotypes. MtDNA preference is cell‐type‐specific and not tissue‐specific. Also, the metabolic differentiation program determines the preferred mtDNA haplotype and the mtDNA segregation is driven by functional selection and strongly modulated by the crosstalk between the nucleus and mitochondria.  © 2020 The Authors. IUBMB Life
https://doi.org/10.1002/iub.2434

 

 

Targeting Mitochondria 2021 Congress
October 27-29, 2021 - Berlin & Virtual Congress
www.targeting-mitochondria.com

 

A session dedicated to Nuclear-mitochondrial interactions and their effect on longevity and health will be organized

A session dedicated to the "Nuclear-mitochondrial interactions and their effect on longevity and health" will be organized by Prof. Miria Ricchetti, Team Stability of Nuclear and Mitochondrial DNA, Institut Pasteur, France, who will chair the session.

Among the speakers:

Targeting Mitochondria 2021 Miria-Ricchetti-С1Introduction & Presentation of Session
Dr. Miria Ricchetti, Team Stability of Nuclear and Mitochondrial DNA, Institut Pasteur, France

Targeting Mitochondria 2021 Jose Antonio EnriquezDeciphering strategic interactions between the mitochondrial and nuclear genome
Dr. José Antonio Enríquez from Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III, Spain

 

Targeting Mitochondria 2021 Congress
October 27-29, 2021 - Berlin & Virtual Congress
www.targeting-mitochondria.com

 

Mitochondrial Arginase-2 is Essential for IL-10 Metabolic Reprogramming of Inflammatory Macrophages

targeting mitochondria 2021 Dr. Claire McCoyDr. Claire McCoy from Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Ireland will join the Targeting Mitochondria 2021 Congress and give a presentation about "Mitochondrial Arginase-2 is Essential for IL-10 Metabolic Reprogramming of Inflammatory Macrophages".

Dr. Claire McCoy graduated in Biochemistry from Trinity College Dublin and completed her PhD at the University of Dundee, Scotland in 2006. Her first postdoctoral position in Innate Immunology was completed at Trinity College Dublin, during which time she was awarded a prestigious Marie Curie International Fellowship. She joined the Hudson Institute, Melbourne as a Research Fellow in 2010 and obtained a New Investigator Project Grant from the NHMRC to continue her work investigating the role of microRNAs in Inflammatory diseases. Claire joined RCSI as the Immunology lecturer in August 2016, where she now leads the growing microRNA Inflammation research group. Claire was the recipient of an SFI Future Research Leader's award presented by President Higgins in January 2018.

Targeting Mitochondria 2021 Congress
October 27-29, 2021 - Berlin & Virtual Congress
www.targeting-mitochondria.com

Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Mitochondrial Health as Modulators of COVID-19

Targeting Mitochondria 2021 BurtscherDr. Johannes Burtscher, from University of Lausanne, Suisse will join the Targeting Mitochondria 2021 Congress and will give a presentation entitled "Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Mitochondrial Health as Modulators of COVID-19".

Dr. Burtscher confirms that some coronaviruses like SARS-CoV-2, the pathogen causing COVID-19, manipulate host cell mitochondria to dodge the host immune defense. We hypothesize that good mitochondrial health, for example due to regular exercise and associated with cardiorespiratory fitness, protects from viral manipulation of mitochondria. Conversely, mitochondrial damage may facilitate viral infection and aggravate the disease. I will summarize the theoretical interactions of SARS-CoV-2 with host mitochondria and provide an overview of recent studies investigating the link between COVID-19 and cardiorespiratory fitness and mitochondrial health.

 

Targeting Mitochondria 2021 Congress
October 27-29, 2021 - Berlin & Virtual Congress
www.targeting-mitochondria.com

Mechanism of Membrane-Tethered Mitochondrial Protein Synthesis

Targeting Mitochondria 2021 Antoni BarrientosDr. Antoni Barrientos from University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, USA will give a presentation entitled "Mechanism of Membrane-Tethered Mitochondrial Protein Synthesis".

The main research interest of their laboratory is on the basic mechanisms that govern the biogenesis of mitochondrial protein complexes in health, disease and aging. They are most specifically interested in the assembly and function of the mitochondrial translation machinery and of the mitochondrial respiratory chain and oxidative phosphorylation system components, involved in biological energy transduction.

The study of mitochondria is now a very “hot issue” for both basic and clinical research. Mitochondria are not only the “energy factories” of the cell but they also house a multiplicity of pathways that serve to regulate cellular life and death. Importantly, mitochondria are involved in prevalent human diseases of wide social impact, most notably neurodegenerative disorders, but also in cancer and the aging process.

 

Targeting Mitochondria 2021 Congress
October 27-29, 2021 - Berlin & Online
www.targeting-mitochondria.com

Mitochondria in the Press & Media