Probing Mitochondrial Physiology - Forefront of a new Science

Vamsi Mootha is an associate member of the Broad Institute. He is developing experimental and computational strategies to integrate genomic, proteomic, and physiological data to accelerate human disease gene discovery. He has applied these strategies to the successful identification of genes underlying rare, inherited metabolic syndromes, and more recently, has been extending these efforts to more common diseases, such as type 2 diabetes. He utilizes a multidisciplinary approach that includes mathematics, computer science, biochemistry, and genetics.

Vamsi's research program is primarily focused on the mitochondrion, the "powerhouse of the cell," and its role in human diseases. Work previously published by Vamsi and colleagues at the Broad demonstrated that mitochondria are less active in the muscles of diabetics and those at risk for developing diabetes. Recently, Vamsi and colleagues identified three genes that form a regulatory circuit in controlling the activity of mitochondria in a given cell. This gene circuit is a promising drug target for type 2 diabetes.

A 2004 recipient of the Macarthur genius award, Vamsi is associate professor of systems biology at Harvard Medical School and associate professor of medicine in the Center for Human Genetics at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Vamsi received his undergraduate degrees in mathematical and computational science at Stanford University, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa with highest honors. He received his M.D. in 1998 at Harvard Medical School in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, where his thesis work was focused on mitochondrial physiology. He subsequently completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital in 2001, after which he completed postdoctoral fellowship training at the Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Research.