Opening the gates of death: Channels in mitochondria

Mitochondria are vital cell organelles which sustain cellular life by acting as energy factories in a normal cell. Under certain circumstances, mitochondria turn into the gateways to death by releasing death-inducing proteins into the cytosol. The channels in the mitochondrial outer membrane that allow the efflux of the death-inducing proteins from mitochondria into the cytosol are unknown. My graduate research work was focused on understanding the nature of these channels both structurally and functionally. I discovered that the lipid called ceramide and the protein called Bax act together to facilitate protein release from mitochondria. My work shed further insights into how ceramide forms channels. I also explored the dynamics of channel formation by Bax. I developed ionic strength as a useful diagnostic tool study Bax channel formation in vitro.