Research Interests
For over twenty years, my research group has focused on a range of issues involved in mitochondrial function, cellular metabolism, oxidative stress, and aging. Due to the wide span of our biological interests, my lab has developed expertise in mitochondrial assays, cell and molecular biology approaches, and the generation of mouse models along with whole animal physiological measurements. Throughout the years, we have worked towards a long-term goal to uncover the molecular basis of mammalian aging and age-related diseases through the study of a variety of different cellular pathways including stem cell self-renewal, reactive oxygen species, sirtuins, autophagy, mTOR signaling and mitochondrial metabolism. Our focus in the last several years has been whether a decline in autophagy might phenocopy aging, strategies to detect and modify in vivo mitophagy and the genetic dissection of the mitochondrial calcium uniporter complex. Our laboratory is situated within the Aging Institute which provides a highly collaborative and interactive environment with researchers focused on various disciplines including those studying the basic biology of aging (e.g. the role of DNA damage), as well as those individuals more focused on age-related diseases (e.g. Alzheimer's disease, atherosclerosis). As part of this effort, there is also a small molecule/high throughput discovery unit.
Selected Publications
View Dr. Finkel's publications on PubMed
- Pan X, Liu J, Nguyen T, Liu C, Sun J , Teng Y, Fergusson MM, Rovira II, Allen M, Springer DA, Aponte AM, Gucek M,Balaban RS, Murphy E, and Finkel T (2013) The physiological role of mitochondrial calcium revealed by mice lacking the mitochondrial calcium uniporter. Nat Cell Biol. 15:1464-72.
- Sun N, Yun J, Liu J, Malide D, Liu C., Rovira II, Holmstrom KM, Fergusson MM, Yoo YH, Combs CA and Finkel T (2015) Measuring in vivo mitophagy. Mol. Cell, 60: 685-696.
- Xiong J, Kawagashi H, Yan Y, Liu J, Wells Q, Edmunds LR, Fergusson MM, Yu ZX, Rovira II, Brittain E, Wolfgang MJ, Jurczack MJ, Fessel JP and Finkel T (2018) A metabolic basis for endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition. Molecular Cell 69: 689-698.