My research is focused on the mechanisms for the recruitment of metals into mitochondria and their subsequent insertion, as cofactors, into the multi-subunit complexes of the electron transport chain. The majority of the studies use the model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae with a combination of protein chemistry and genetics. Mitochondrial dysfunction is a common element of most human disease, so insight gleaned from the assembly process in yeast is crucial to understanding many pathophysiological states. I teach the fundamentals of microbiology in BIOL3200 General Microbiology.
