Sarah Coffey

MSTP in PhD Training

Program: Immunology

Current advisor: Jonathan R. Brestoff, MD, PhD, MPH

Undergraduate university: Princeton University, 2020

Enrollment year: 2022

Research summary
I am conducting research on mitochondria in immune cells in diseases including type II diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease.

My initial project is focused on understanding the dynamics of cell-free mitochondria in the blood in cardiovascular disease. We are quantifying cell-free mitochondria in the blood in patients who present to the emergency room with chest pain and are tested for cardiac troponin to see if there are differences between the patients that ultimately have elevated troponin and those who do not. In a myocardial infarction, cardiomyocytes are damaged and cardiac troponin is released into the blood; as such, we hypothesize that cardiomyocyte-derived mitochondria may be released into the blood as well. Further work will examine potential roles of these cell-free mitochondria and implications of their presence in the bloodstream.

Graduate publications