Biophysical Society Bulletin | July/August 2019

Communities

Subgroups Bioenergetics, Mitochondria and Metabolism The Subgroup has extended its name fromBioenergetics to Bioenergetics, Mitochondria, andMetabolism. We invite all people who want to understand the biophysics of energy homeostasis from subcellular to organismal levels to join the Subgroup. Our interest ranges from single-molecule structure andmolecular dy- namics of bioenergetics complexes inmicrobacteria, chloroplasts andmitochondria, to disease relevant alterations inmitochondrial biology. Newly elected Co-Chairs are Karin Busch (WWUMünster, Germa- ny), and Tatiana Rostovtseva (National Institutes of Health [NIH], USA). Pablo Peixoto (CUNY, USA) is Secretary-Treasurer for another year. Co-Chairs elected for 2020 are Miguel Aon (NIH, USA) and Gyuri Csordas (Thomas Jefferson University, USA). Many thanks to George Porter (University of Rochester Medical Center, USA) and Elizabeth Jonas (Yale University School of Medicine, USA) who served the Subgroup over the last year.

At the 2019 BPS Annual Meeting, the Subgroup had two exciting sessions with international speakers. The morning symposium, “Structure-Function of Mitochondrial Super-Complexes,” was chaired by William Cramer of Purdue University, USA, and Karin Busch of theWWUMünster, Germany. Werner Kühlbrandt of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysics, Germany, presented struc- tures of bioenergetics super-complexes including d ATP synthase fromdifferent organisms. WilliamDowhan of the University of Texas Health Science Center, USA, talked about nuclear genes encoding for enzymes necessary for CL synthesis and complexes III and IV. Rosemary Stuart of Marquette University, USA, discussed howRcf1 is important for the function of complex III and IV but is not the “glue.” Robert Gennis of the University of Illinois, USA, discussed an alternative complex III as a quinone complex in the Flavobacterium johnsoniae. Helmut Kirchhoff of Washington State University, USA, showed quantification of diffusion in photosyn- thetic membranes. Smaller protein complexes leave room for diffusion in the lipidmembrane. The Young Bioenergeticist Award was presented to Kimberli Kamer of Harvard University, USA. Kamer discussed her findings on the mitochondrial calciumuniporter (MCU) complex. She found that in MICU1/2 KO, the threshold for Ca2+ uptake becomes very low. The afternoon symposium, “Metabolic Approaches for Longev- ity and Disease Treatment (with Focus on Ketone Bodies),” was chaired by Elena Dedkova of the University of California, Davis, USA, who presented an overview of the field. Carl E. Stafstrom of Johns Hopkins University, USA, then discussed the experience treating children with epilepsy and the pros and cons of the keto- genic diet, showing its effect on seizures. Eric Verdin from the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, USA, discussed the link between beta-hydroxybutyrate, histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors and the NAD/NADH ratio to control aging in animal models. Daniel P. Kelly of the University of Pennsylvania, USA, described how the failing heart increases utilization of ketone bodies possibly as a metabolic stress defense. Kieran Clarke of the University of Oxford, UK, presented how synthesized ketone monoester significantly enhances physical and cognitive performances in athletes. Peter A. Crawford , University of Minnesota, USA, shed light onmechanistic underpinnings of the transition fromuncomplicated nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. He found that impairment in the ketogenic pathway affects hepatic glucose production and oxidative flux. Elena N. Dedkova discussed how oxidation of ketone bodies ( β -OHB and AcAc) at the expense of fatty acid oxidation in heart protects against the production of free fatty acid that is implicated inmyocardial injury. Our 2020 Subgroup symposiumwill be “Ion Channels in Bioen- ergetics” and will organized by Brian O’Rourke and Evgeny Pavlov . Our aim is to cover the many fascinating and demanding aspects of bioenergetics in all its depth and width. We hope you will come and join us! - Karin Busch , Chair - Tatiana Rostovtseva , Chair

Karin B. Busch studied biochemistry, biology, and chemistry at the University of Tübingen, Germa- ny, got involved in plant mitochondrial physiology during her PhD and completed a two-year post- doc position at theWeizmann Institute of Science in Israel. After some intermediate positions, she became assistant professor for mitochondrial

Karin B. Busch

dynamics in Osnabrück, Germany, and holds (since 2015) a full professorship at the Institute of Molecular Cell Biology, Münster, Germany, with a focus on bioenergetics andmitochondrial dy- namics. Her aim is to decipher how the spatio-temporal organi- zation of the OXPHOS complexes inmitochondria contribute to metabolic adaptation. She is a recognized expert in single-mol- ecule tracking and localizationmicroscopy of mitochondrial membrane proteins. Tatiana K. Rostovtseva obtained her PhD in physics

and biophysics from the Russian Academy of Sciences andmoved for postdoc positions to London University, UK, and then to University of Maryland, USA. Since 2002, Rostovtseva has worked in the Section onMolecular Transport at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH, where she became an asso-

Tatiana K. Rostovtseva

ciate scientist in 2015. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland. Her scientific interest is to understand fundamental mechanisms behind physiology of large beta-barrel membrane channels from cell organelles and how protein-protein and protein-lipid interactions control their functioning. She is an expert in single channel biophysics andmitochondrial channels.

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