Shutt Lab

We are hiring!
Fully funded PhD position on an exciting project to understand a fundamental mechanism of mitochondrial biogenesis. We will primarily rely on cryo-EM and protein-biochemical approaches.
Please share!

More about us: martinottlab.com

Apply here:
web103.reachmee.com/ext/I005/103...

5 years of MITOtalks!

Feels like it was yesterday when @wanrooij20.bsky.social
and @nunoraimundo.bsky.social
opened the first MITOtalk to introduce
@frezzalab.bsky.social.

But it turns out FIVE YEARS have passed. That's 57 MITOtalks, 44 MITOchats, 6000+ followers.

Onwards and upwards!

Really thrilled to have our work on mitochondrial presequence strength out today @jcb.org. We establish quantitative parameters to better define "strong" and "weak" presequences both in vitro and in vivo. This work was spearheaded by the ever talented Youmian Yan, a BBSB graduate student in my lab.

Self-renewal of neuronal mitochondria through asymmetric division Mitochondrial ATP production is essential for life. Mitochondrial function depends on the spatio-temporal coordination of nuclear and mitochondrial genome expression, yet how this coordination occurs ...

⚡️Mitochondria make ATP, the energy that powers life. But in neurons, with axons up to a meter long, how do these tiny power plants stay functional in the right places? We went looking. 1/n www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

We are hiring!. If you hold a PhD in natural science and are passionate about mitochondria, reach out!

New paper - MAPL strikes again! Interested in mitochondrial signalling, inflammation, lysosome biology, pyroptosis, and Parkinson's disease? Have a look, there's something for everyone! Feeling grateful! @mitocollier.bsky.social Funded by #CIHR, @asapresearch.parkinsonsroadmap.org.
rdcu.be/eKKz1 🇨🇦

Hyper-proliferation of Adipose Progenitors During Developmental Adipogenesis Programs Higher Adipocyte Number and Early-onset Obesity in Offspring Born to Obese Dams Being born to a mother who was obese during pregnancy is one of the strongest predictors of early onset obesity and metabolic syndrome. To identify the developmental mechanism linking maternal obesity...

We have a new preprint! A major part of Taylor's PhD research is now available to read on bioRxiv: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Congrats Jonathan!

Drug Repurposing Screen Identifies an HRI Activating Compound that Promotes Adaptive Mitochondrial Remodeling in MFN2-deficient Cells https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.23.660251v1

Thanks for including us in this exciting work! Looking forward to the next stages of this fun collaboration.

Congrats to ShuttLab PhD student Mashiat Zaman @mashiatzaman.bsky.social on receiving an award for his short talk at the recent CSMB-PRinCE meeting in Ottawa

Caspase-11 drives macrophage hyperinflammation in models of Polg-related mitochondrial disease - Nature Communications Mitochondrial diseases lead to chronic health impairment, aggravated by infections and other environmental exposures. Here authors show, in a mouse model of polymerase gamma (Polg)-related mitochondri...

Delighted to share our paper describing how type I interferon promotes caspase-11 hyperactivity in models of PolG-related mitochondrial disease. Thanks to all co-authors and the POLG Foundation for for their support. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Mitochondrial presequences harbor variable strengths to maintain organellar function Hundreds of mitochondrial-destined proteins rely on N-terminal presequences for organellar targeting and import. While generally described as positively charged amphipathic helices, presequences lack ...

Very excited to share our latest work, “Mitochondrial presequences harbor variable strengths to maintain organellar function,” led by the fantastically talented @washubbsb.bsky.social graduate student Youmian Yan. A 🧵

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The Hidden Social Lives of Mitochondria When these energy-giving organelles thrive, so do we

Mitochondria Are More Than Powerhouses—They’re the Motherboard of the Cell

great work by Martin Picard

www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-...

Journal of Cell Science cover Special Issue on Cell Biology of Mitochondria Guest Editors: Ana J. Garcia-Saez and Heidi McBride Image of mitochondria (magenta) and DNA (cyan) in glioblastoma cells

Our Special Issue: Cell Biology of Mitochondria is complete.

Explore our ToC: journals.biologists.com/jcs/issue/13...

Our cover image highlights mitochondria (magenta) and DNA (cyan) in glioblastoma cells from Buckley et al.
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
#JCSMitoSI #Mitochondria

Happy to see this fun piece finally out. Congrats to Laurie for bringing this all together and thanks to Martin for his contributions.

🚨New preprint!🚨 #teamtomo
We expanded Surface Morphometrics to quantify membrane thickness from cryo-ET—revealing local variation across organelles.

Led by the lab’s first grad student, @mmedina300kv.bsky.social (defending Monday! 🍾) w/ @attychang.bsky.social @hamid13r.bsky.social & @tomo.science

Inter-organelle Stress Communication in Inflammation & Disease Conference | Fusion Conferences Our scientific research conferences support the development of physical, medical and life sciences, providing a powerful platform that encourages discussion and collaboration in luxury locations acros...

Excited to call your attention to a new Fusion Conference this October in Malta. #IOSCD25 will cover:
• Organelle Crosstalk
• DNA Damage Responses & Inflammation
• Organelles in Innate Immune Signaling
• Organelle Communication in Disease and Aging
More here: bit.ly/4jI458f
@fusionconf.bsky.social

This work characterizes the Q367H variant in MFN2, identified in a patient with myopathy but no peripheral, and shows a novel way in which MFN2 dysfunction causes disease by promoting mtDNA release and subsequent inflammation @mitomorph.bsky.social www.life-science-alliance.org/content/8/6/...

I know print journals aren't exactly on everyone's radar these days, but we’re still geeking out that our latest study—led by the brilliant @attychang.bsky.social—landed the cover of the April issue of JCB! 🤩

@zidlab.bsky.social @tomo.science @hamid13r.bsky.social

New work from Zaman et al., in the Shutt Lab @mitomorph.bsky.social, describes a novel variant in MFN2 linked to mtDNA-mediated inflammation and muscle myopathy
www.life-science-alliance.org/content/8/6/...

Retromer promotes the lysosomal turnover of mtDNA Lysosomal uptake of mtDNA controls mitochondrial quality.

Are u tired of reading about tariffs? Then take a look to our last work! @science.org

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The MFN2 Q367H variant reveals a novel pathomechanism connected to mtDNA-mediated inflammation Pathogenic variants in the mitochondrial protein MFN2 are typically associated with a peripheral neuropathy phenotype, but can also cause a variety of additional pathologies including myopathy. Here, ...

A novel pathomechanism connected to mtDNA-mediated inflammation for CMT2A
www.life-science-alliance.org/content/8/6/...

The main addition since our original pre-print is new work showing that when we re-express this variant in MFN2 KO cells, we still see mtDNA release, similar to what we observed in patient cells. This new data confirms the mtDNA release is mediated by the MFN2 variant.

Our paper describing a novel MFN2 variant linked to mtDNA-mediated inflammation is now published at Life Science Alliance @lsajournal.org.

doi.org/10.26508/lsa...

MITOtalks this week

Great chance for Canadian researchers to attend a great scientific meeting in Canada!

A robustly rooted tree of eukaryotes reveals their excavate ancestry - Nature The root of the eukaryote Tree of Life is estimated from a new, larger dataset of mitochondrial proteins including all known eukaryotic supergroups, showing it lies between two multi-supergroup assemb...

I'm pleased to introduce our new paper rooting the eukaryote Tree of Life (eToL) that resulted from a collaboration led by PhD student Kelsey Williamson and a large group of collaborators doi.org/10.1038/s415...htt

Postdoc on Mitochondrial Biogenesis and Quality Control - Gothenburg (Stad), Västra Götaland (SE) job with University of Gothenburg | 12835658 Investigating the molecular connectivity of mitochondrial gene expression, protein biogenesis and quality control Background: Mitochondria convert ...

Less than a week left to apply to the open post doc position in our lab. Join us in beautiful Gothenburg to work on an exciting project!
www.nature.com/naturecareer...

The 12th Canadian Developmental Biology Conference will take place in the beautiful city of Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, in May 25-28, 2025. The registration is still open. event.fourwaves.com/12cdb/pages