20th anniversary of the Laboratory of Bioenergetics

The Laboratory of Bioenergetics has actively participated in developing a new direction, Molecular Systems Bioenergetics (MSB), which is an important part of Systems Biology.

The main focus of MSB is the processes of energy conversion both at molecular and cellular levels, with special emphasis on the structure and function of energy transfer and regulatory networks, mechanisms of interaction between their components, and a quantitative description of these networks by computational models.

Our earlier work described quantitatively the molecular organization, dynamics and regulation of integrated energy metabolism in adult cardiac and skeletal muscle. The existing data on the regulation of mitochondrial energy conversion point to decisive role of protein-protein interactions between the cytoskeletal proteins and the mitochondrial outer membrane. This regular system with crystal-like arrangement of mitochondria is highly organized due to specific organization of the cytoskeletal system of muscle cells. During the last years we have formulated a model of regulation of respiration in a supercomplex, named Mitochondrial Interactosome. In cancerous cells this complex is significantly modified.

The results of these investigations will give the basis for understanding of many cellular pathologies of heart like ischemia, heart failure, myocardial infarction, neurodegenerative diseases, bioenergetic mechanisms of cancer, and mechanisms of reperfusion injury.

The Laboratory of Bioenergetics is in tight collaboration with French scientists from Bordeaux and Grenoble Universities, with Innsbruck Medical University, Daniel Swarovski Research Laboratory and with National Institutes of Health, USA.