Direnis Erdinc successfully defends her PhD
(11-05-2023) An excellent defence by Direnis on her thesis “Biochemical studies of mitochondrial DNA maintenance and topology”. Opponent Erik Johansson led a stimulating and thorough discussion. Big congrats and all the best Direnis!
Postdoc opportunity
(10-02-2023) We have an exciting postdoc position available on mtDNA replication and transcription. Read more about it and apply here! Don’t delay, closes 28-2-2023.
New PhD student
(01-11-2022) Welcome to Louise Lambert who is doing a joint PhD in our group at the University of Gothenburg, and the group of Geraldine Farge at the University of Clermont Auvergne.
Lab members
(02-07-2022) We are sorry to see Benedict Tan’s time in the lab reach its end. He’ll be joining the CECAD Research Centre in Cologne Germany. Happy though to have our new postdoc Giorgia Ortolani join us from the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Gothenburg. We also welcome Alena Aliashkevich, who joins us next week from the Faculty of Medicine, Umeå University.
Our latest on mtSSB
(02-07-2021) The mitochondrial single-stranded DNA binding protein is essential for initiation of mtDNA replication. Congratulations to our postdocs and co-lead authors Xie Xie and Xuefeng Zhu, contributing lab members, and collaborators. Out in Science Advances.
New paper on POLγA turnover
(16-05-2021) In our latest study, in collaboration with Carlo Viscomi and colleagues, we show that pathogenic POLγA mutations impair interactions with POLγB, causing free POLγA to be targeted for LONP1 protease degradation. Out in NAR.
Ali Al-Behadili completes his doctoral degree
(24-03-2021) Well done Ali for a great PhD defence – “Molecular insights into primer removal during mitochondrial DNA replication”. Congratulations! Thank you also to the very engaged and thoughtful opponent, Stefan Björklund.
Majda Mehmedovic receives her doctoral degree
(05-02-2021) Congratulations to Majda for successfully defending her PhD thesis entitled “Regulation of Human Mitochondrial Replication and Transcription”! Wishing all the best in her future endeavours. Also, thank you to Maria Solá for leading an amazing discussion.
Welcome Javier Miralles Fusté
(01-02-2021) Javier joins our group as a researcher. Great to have him back at GU!
Two new papers in Nature and PLOS Genetics
(18-12-2020) Read about novel small-molecule inhibitors of the mitochondrial RNA polymerase, out in Nature. Also, we describe a high-throughput computational pipeline to detect mtDNA deletions and duplications, out in PLOS Genetics. Congrats to our lab members and collaborators!
Our chapter in the Methods in Molecular Biology book series is out
(14-12-2020) Our methods & protocols chapter describes the analysis of mtDNA replication using in vitro techniques. Visit Mitochondrial Gene Expression – Methods in Molecular Biology.
See our latest review on mtDNA replication
(12-10-2020) Access our new review at Crit Rev Biochem Mol Biol. We present the latest developments in mammalian mtDNA replication, and also discuss the mechanisms behind how mtDNA deletions are formed.
Visiting scholars
(07-10-2020) Welcome back Dr. Layal Ishak, who returns to the group for several months. And we also welcome a new research assistant, Mãdãlina Sãcultanu.
Welcome Ulrika Alexandersson
(15-06-2020) We are pleased to have Ulrika Alexandersson join our group as a BMA.
Direnis passes her half-time PhD seminar
(24-04-2020) Direnis Erdinc, our ITN-Remix PhD fellow, passed a PhD milestone with an excellent half-time presentation to the evaluation committee. It was also the first time the rest of the group attended via zoom.
New review paper out
(14-04-2020) Visit Genes for our review paper on mitochondrial helicases. We mainly discuss TWINKLE structure and function and its role in mtDNA maintenance diseases. Also we review other reported mitochondrial helicases and discuss their potential roles in mitochondria.
Postdoc positions
(06-04-2020) We will be hiring postdocs! If you are interested, please send your CV to Jay Uhler.
Visiting scholars
(29-03-2020) Zofia Chrzanowska-Lightowlers and Robert Lightowlers from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Mitochondrial Research at Newcastle University were back in Gothenburg for a week of collaborative research in our lab. Also staying with us was Louis Debar from Geraldine Farge’s lab at the University of Clermont Auvergne.
National DNA Transactions Meeting
(29-01-2020) This year’s National DNA Transactions meeting in Stockholm saw many great talks, including from our very own postdoctoral research fellow, Örjan Persson.
First 2020 paper out
(05-01-2020) We characterized a novel POLG mutation in a patient with PEO, published in Neurology Genetics. The work is a collaboration with the Anders Oldfors and Erik Larsson Lekholm groups at GU.
FALKENBERG lab 