Professor Carla Koehler was recently interviewed by science journalist Robyn Williams about her mitochondria research on the popular The Science Show.
The Australian Broadcasting Corp’s Science Show is considered by many people to be the world’s best science broadcast program. Koehler was interviewed by Williams for the one-hour radio show when he recently visited the UCLA campus. The 5-minute interview aired on June 3rd.
In speaking about her research on Primary Hyperoxalosis 1, a genetic disease which results in painful and life-threatening kidney stones, Koehler said in the interview “One of the exciting things in doing Biomedical research is when you understand what is really going on at the molecular level. It’s really satisfying and exciting because, when we see the patient, we don’t really know why they get these kidney stones and in the end we can say it’s because this protein is going to the wrong place. Let’s see if we can correct that.” Listen to the show here.
From The Science Show website:
Faulty mitochondria behind many human diseases
with Robyn Williams on RN
Summary
Carla Koehler is investigating the assembly of mitochondria and hopes to determine why some mitochondria assemble with faults causing mitochondrial disease.
Mitochondria are one of many organelles in our cells. They are regarded as the powerhouse of the cell producing the enzyme ATP which is used in many biochemical processes. Producing mitochondria is itself the result of a whole string of complex chemical reactions. If the mitochondria assemble with a fault, the result can be serious disease. Carla Koehler is investigating the assembly of mitochondria and hopes to determine why some mitochondria assemble with faults causing mitochondrial disease. The illustration shows a protein (seen in red) moving into the mitochondrion. The brown bodies represent chemical machines that allow transport of the proteins. The mitochondrion also has its own small genome (shown in yellow). Proteins from the mitochondrial genome and the nuclear genome assemble into protein complexes within the mitochondrion. This process is essential for mitochondria to provide energy.
Image: (Maureen Heaster – RN)
