Jerry Wei

Program: Biochemistry Biophysics and Structural Biology

Current advisor: Natalie M. Niemi, PhD

Undergraduate university: University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, 2020

Enrollment year: 2020

Research summary
Understanding the regulatory mechanisms of receptor-mediated mitophagy

Mitophagy, or mitochondrial autophagy, plays a crucial role in maintaining a healthy population of mitochondria within a cell. Dysregulations of mitophagy has been implicated in diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, heart failure, and acute kidney injury. However, while much knowledge has been gained on PINK1-PARKIN mediated mitophagy in recent years, how cells modulate receptor-mediated mitophagy is not well understood. Thus, we aim to use a variety of biochemical and cell biological techniques to dissect the mechanistic details of the regulation of receptor-mediated mitophagy to gain insights into the complexity of mitochondrial organellar homeostasis.

Graduate publications
Wei L, Gok MO, Svoboda JD, Kozul KL, Forny M, Friedman JR, Niemi NM. 2024 Dual-localized PPTC7 limits mitophagy through proximal and dynamic interactions with BNIP3 and NIX. Life Sci Alliance, 7(9):e202402765. PMCID: 38991726

Niemi NM, Serrano LR, Muehlbauer LK, Balnis CE, Wei L, Smith AJ, Kozul KL, Forny M, Connor OM, Rashan EH, Shishkova E, Schueler KL, Keller MP, Attie AD, Friedman JR, Pagan JK, Coon JJ, Pagliarini DJ. 2023 PPTC7 maintains mitochondrial protein content by suppressing receptor-mediated mitophagy. Nat Commun, 14(1)::6431. PMCID: PMC10575892