Awarded in 2025
Home Department: Bioengineering
Faculty Advisors: Stanley Qi (Bioengineering) and Lars Steinmetz (Genetics)

Research Title: Modular Genetic and Cell-Based Approaches for Mitochondrial Engineering

Mitochondria are the hub of energy metabolism in eukaryotic cells, with mitochondrial dysfunction involved in wide range of pathologies, including mitochondrial diseases, diabetes, cancer, neurodegeneration, and aging. With their own genome and the capacity to move horizontally between cells, mitochondria are natural orthogonal and transferrable membrane-bound bioenergetic modules. To expand this potential in synthetic biology and therapeutic applications, in Lorenzo’s PhD project, Lorenzo is trying to 1) develop genetic tools to edit mtDNA with high efficiency and programmability, and 2) to enhance the process of intercellular mitochondrial transfer and leverage it to deliver functional mitochondria by cell therapy.