Next BBDG Seminar: "Lipid control of mitochondrial fission"

🗣️ Rajesh Ramachandran (Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA)

🗓️ Jun, Thu 25, 2026, 12:00

📍 Adela Moyua room (Faculty of Science and Technology, EHU) (🗺️ view map)

📄 "Lipid control of mitochondrial fission"

Rajesh Ramachandran, Ph.D, is a Tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology & Biophysics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio, USA. His laboratory, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), studies the molecular mechanisms and regulation of membrane remodeling during mitochondrial division and synaptic vesicle endocytosis in mammalian cells. Prior to his current position, Dr. Ramachandran was a Scientist at Life Technologies Inc. in Carlsbad, California, USA (presently Thermo Fisher Scientific) developing single molecule fluorescence methodologies to monitor enzymatic reactions and was previously a postdoctoral fellow (2004-2008) with Dr. Sandra Schmid at The Scripps Research Institute (TRI), La Jolla, California, studying dynamin-mediated endocytic vesicle scission. Or. Ramachandran earned an M.S. in Molecular Biology (1998) from the University of Madras, Chennai, India, and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry & Biophysics (2004) from Texas A&M University, USA, where he, under the expert guidance of Dr. Arthur Johnson, began his journey in membrane protein biophysics studying bacterial pore-forming toxins. Dr. Ramachandran has authored over 40 peer-reviewed research articles and has published numerous groundbreaking studies in prestigious journals such as PNAS, EMBO J, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, and Nature ‘Communications. Summary: "Mitochondria are dynamic organelles that undergo continuous fission and fusion, mediated largely by mechanochemical GTPases of the dynamin superfamily. Cardiolipin (CL) is a hallmark phospholipid of the mitochondria that translocates from the inner to the outer mitochondrial membrane under stress. This seminar will elucidate how externalized CL coordinates with the various molecular machineries of the outer membrane to elicit both dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1)-dependent and Drp1-independent mitochondrial fission.