Alicia M. Pickrell, Ph.D.

Associate Professor |Director of Graduate Studies

Virginia Tech-School of Neuroscience

Mitochondria are more than just the powerhouse of the cell. They serve diverse functions to maintain cellular health, such as calcium handling, antioxidant defense, beta oxidation, and control of apoptosis. Mitochondrial dysfunction underpins a wide range of maladies such as neurodegenerative diseases, aging, myopathies, diabetes, and cancer. Mitochondrial dysfunction leading to cell death has been a major contributor to these disease states and this has been widely explored by the field. However, mitochondrial dysfunction also can disrupt cellular processes without triggering cell death. One goal of my research program is to understand the understudied processes by which mitochondrial dysfunction impacts other cellular processes causing aberrant cellular function but not cell death. We recently have been focused on the signaling mechanisms that relay information about mitochondrial damage that perturb mitosis and cell division.