Lena Pernas, PhD

Dr. Pernas' research group aims to identify fundamental principles of organelle biology that inform cancer progression and potential therapeutic strategies. They focus on how host mitochondria are remodeled during infection, and how these dynamic organelles serve as critical signaling hubs that coordinate cellular stress, metabolic, and immune responses. Because many of these same pathways are similarly dysregulated in cancer, their research has the potential to provide new insights into how organelle-driven regulation of immunity and metabolism can shape host-tumor interactions.

Li, X., Straub, J., Medeiros, T., Mehra, C., den Brave, F., Peker, E., Atanassov, I., Stillger, K., Michaelis, J.B., Burbridge, E., Burbridge, E., Adrain, C., Münch, C., Riemer, J., Becker, T., and Pernas, L. (2022) Mitochondria shed their outer membrane in response to infection-induced stress. Science. 375(6577) PMID: 35025629

Garcia, B.M., Melchinger, P., Medeiros, T., Hendrix, S., Prabhu, K., Corrado, M., Kingma, J., Gorbatenko, A., Deshwal, S., Veronese, M., Scorrano, L., Pearce, E., Giavilisco, P., Zelcer, N., and Pernas L. Glutamine sensing licenses cholesterol synthesis. (2024) EMBO J, s44318-024-00269-0 PMID: 39433901

Medeiros, T.C., Ovciarikova, J., Li, X., Krueger, P., Bartsch, T., Reato, S., Crow, J. C., Sutterlin, M.C., Garcia, B.M., Rais, I., Allmeroth, K., Hartman, M.D., Denzel, M.S., Purrio, M., Mesaros, A., Leung, K.-Y., Greene, N.D.E., Sheiner, L., Giavalisco, P., Pernas, L. (2025) Mitochondria protect against an intracellular pathogen by restricting access to folate. Science. 389(6761) PMID: 40811546

Mehra, C., Valverde, J.A., Matias, A.M.N., Torelli, F., Medeiros, T.C., Straub, J., Asaki, J.D., Bradley, P.J., Luck, K., Lawo, S., Treeck, M., and Pernas, L. (2025) Toxoplasma effector TgROP1 establishes membrane contact sites with the endoplasmic reticulum during infection. accepted, Nature Microbiology