The Security Guard for Cells’ Power Plants

Published: Sunday, September 15, 2019

Just like your cell phone draws power from its battery, your cells get their energy from tiny power plants called mitochondria. Ashley Pitt, a graduate student in the Intramural Research Program at the National Institutes of Health, studies the TOM complex, which controls what materials are allowed inside the mitochondria. Learning more about the TOM complex could shed light on numerous illnesses, like cancer and Alzheimer’s, that can occur when mitochondria don’t work the way they should.

Click here to learn more about the research being done in Ashley’s lab.

Interested in finding out for yourself what it’s like to do research at NIH? Check out our training opportunities to learn about the IRP’s programs for students, recent graduates, and postdoctoral fellows.

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