Taking a new approach to study cells’ internal defenses against microbial invaders
October 15, 2024 | Life Sciences
Today, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation announced that Lena Pernas – UCLA assistant professor of microbiology, immunology & molecular genetics – is among 20 early-career scientists in their 2024 Class of Packard Fellows for Science and Engineering.
Fellows are selected from a highly competitive pool of the nation’s most promising early-career professors. According to the Packard Foundation, their fellows “take a creative approach to their research, dare to think big, and follow new ideas wherever they lead.” To support their innovative research, each Packard Fellow will receive $875,000 over a period of five years.
Pernas’ research
Rather than assuming a passive takeover during a parasitic infection– where microbial invaders hijack the machinery (aka the “organelles”) responsible for the regular functioning of a cell – Pernas wants to see how a cell’s organelles might actually provide defense against parasitic invaders.
Research in her lab has already shown that during infection with the human parasite Toxoplasma gondii, specific organelles (mitochondria) fuse to increase fatty acid uptake, a key resource Toxoplasma needs to grow, thus limiting infection.
Using Toxoplasma to study how organelles respond to infection, her lab will define the specific signals that mitochondria use to sense and respond to Toxoplasma. They will also look at other organelles and their roles in defending cells from microbial invasion.
Packard Fellows have gone on to receive many additional awards and honors, including Nobel Prizes in Chemistry and Physics, Fields Medals, Alan T. Waterman Awards, Breakthrough Prizes and elections to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
The Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering recognizes Pernas as a future leader whose early research shows the potential for leading to groundbreaking discoveries, perhaps revolutionizing our scientific understanding of how the body defends itself against infection.
