Drug discovery and diagnostics for diseases having a mitochondrial dysfunction component, including: cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, obesity, aging, mitochondrial diseases, and muscle atrophy.  
 

Dr. Haigis has made important strides in understanding the role of sirtuins in cell metabolism. Her efforts are focused on the interplay among sirtuins, mitochondrial function, and various diseases, including diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, and obesity. She has established a multitude of niche in vitro and in vivo assays systems as tools to investigate mitochondrial dysfunction in diseases.

• Study of the role of the sirtuins in metabolism, aging, and disease.
   
• Employment of global genetic screens to identify new genes and signaling pathways that underlie and modify mitochondrial dysregulation in diseases.
   
• Development of new diagnostic capabilities for different diseases, based on insights into mitochondrial biochemistry.
   
• Uncover the genetic, biochemical, and metabolic basis for mitochondrial involvement in aging, diseases, and cell stress.
   

Mitochondrial dysfunction and rescue assays.

Mouse KO and transgenic models.

ADP-ribosylation, Acetylation, siRNA screens, and metabolism.

Dr. Haigis has recently co-authored several high-profile articles, including a first-authorship of a Cell article. Her published work has interwoven two of the hottest areas of biology, mitochondrial function in cell stress and disease, and the family of longevity genes called sirtuins. As a postdoctoral student at MIT, she performed groundbreaking work in sirtuin biology. She was a first author of a comprehensive review article describing this intriguing class of evolutionary-conserved proteins. 
 

Biological Mechanisms and Pathways

• Acetylation •
• ADP-ribosylation •
• Aging •
• Apoptosis •
• Bioenergetics •
• Cell stress •
• Mitochondrial dysfunction •
• Nutrient stress •
• Obesity •
• Oncology •
• Reactive Oxygen Species •
• Sirt3 •
• Sirt4 •
• Sirtuin
•  

Cancer

• Apoptosis •
• Cancer •
• Oncology
•  

Disease Mechanisms

• Alzheimer’s disease •
• Cancer •
• Diabetes •
• Metabolic disease •
• Mitochondrial dysfunction
•  

Metabolism; Metabolic Disease and Aging

• Aging •
• Sirtuin
•  

Therapeutic Discovery Tools and Assays

• Cancer
•