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Qi Laboratory 

- Mitochondria in health and disease

Our laboratory investigates the roles of mitochondrial quality control and metabolism in neurodegenerative diseases. By integrating proteomics, genomics, cell and molecular biology, and patient-derived iPS cell models with disease-relevant animal studies, we aim to uncover how mitochondrial dysfunction drives metabolic impairment, immune dysregulation, and neurodegeneration.

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In parallel, we pursue therapeutic innovation through rationally designed peptide inhibitors targeting key protein-protein interactions and high-throughput drug screening, developing "mitochondrial medicine" as a strategy to combat neurodegenerative disorders.
 

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Science
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Publication
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Team
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Latest News

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  • April 2026- Cassandra has been named the 2026 Doctoral Excellence Award recipient for the department by the School of Medicine!  Congratulations!!! 

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  • April 2026- Congratulations to Cassandra on successfully completing her private and public thesis defense ðŸŽ‰!! 

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  • March 2026- Congratulations to Cassandra and Rihua for their paper accepted by Acta Neuropathologica 🎉!! 

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  • Feb 2026- Congratulations to Di for his papers accepted by Science Advances and Molecular Neurodegeneration 🎉

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  • ​​​Nov 2025-  Mariam Zayour joins our lab as a PhD graduate student! 

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  • Oct 2025- Congratulations to Na for winning the Best Poster Award at the 2025 Department Retreat!

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  • July 2025- Sarah has passed her PhD qualifying exam! Congratulations to Sarah for advancing to PhD candidacy🎉!! 

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  • July 2025- Kyle is awarded " Young Investigator Award" in the 2025 International Research Conference on Neurodegenerative Diseases (IRCND). Congratulations!! ðŸŽ‰

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  • June 2025- Qi lab is awarded an NIH R01 grant to study molecular mechanism of TDP43-mediated ALS/FTD! 

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  • June 2025- Congratulations to Kyle on awarding T32 Neurodegeneration Training Grant 🎉

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  • Feb 2025- Congratulations to Aya on successfully completing her private thesis defense! 🎉

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  • Jan 2025- Congratulations to Kyle and Jack on the publication of their insightful review paper on mitochondrial impairment in Alzheimer's disease! 🎉

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  • Dec 2024- Congratulations to Aya on the acceptance of her PhD thesis work for publication in Acta Neuropathologica Communications! 🎉

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  • Nov 2024- Congratulations to Yutong on the publication of their co-first author paper in Science Advances!🎉

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  • Oct 2024- Congratulations to Sara for winning the best oral presentation in the Annual Recknagel Symposium! 

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  • Oct 2024- Congratulations to Philip for winning the poster award (First place) in the Department Annual Retreat!

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  • Aug 2024- Jack has passed his PhD qualifying exam! Congratulations to Jack for advancing to PhD candidacy!

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  • May 2024- Kyle passed PhD qualifying exam and advances to PhD candidacy. Congratulations!  â€‹

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Selected publications

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  • Hu D, Sun XY, Shang YT, Lundberg K, Adams D* and Qi X*., A small-molecule stabilizer of the Calpastatin-Calpain-2 complex restores mitochondrial function and mitigates Neurodegeneration. Science Advances, 2026 Mar 27;12(13):eaeb1174PMID: 41894510. 

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  • Baron C#, Wang RH#, Cooke S, Ng HP, Ferreira RS, Miranda HC and Qi X*., TDP-43 Impairs Glycolysis by Sequestering Hexokinase 1 in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Acta Neuropathologica, 2026 Mar 16;151(1):26. PMID: 41838122. #, co-first author 

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  • Hu D, Sun XY and Qi X*,  Disrupting α-Synuclein–ClpP interaction restores mitochondrial function and attenuates neuropathology in Parkinson’s disease models. Molecular Neurodegeneration, 2025 Dec 22;20(1):126. PMID: 41430713

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  • Choi W#, Fattah M#, Shang YT#, Thompson MP, Carrow K, Hu D, Liu ZR, Avram M, Bailey K, Berger O, Qi X* and Gianneschi NC*, Mutant Huntingtin Mimetic Protein-like Polymer Blocks Mitochondrial damage, Rescues Huntington’s Neurons, and Slows Onset of Neuropathology In Vivo. #, co-first author. *, co-corresponding author. Science Advances, 2024, Nov 1, 10, eado8307. PMID: 39485846

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  • Sridharan PS, Miller E, Kee T, Chakraborty S, Hu D, Tripathi SJ, Koh Yeojung, Chaubey K, Dhar M, Vazquez-Rosa E, Shin MK, Alvarado RA, Barker S, Franke K, Cintron-Perez CJ, Flanagan M, Castellani RJ, Gefen T, Wilson BM, Fujioka H, Woo JA, Kang D, Paul BD, Qi X* and Pieper AA*, Early transient inhibition of excessive mitochondrial fission after brain injury blocks transition to chronic neurodegenerative disease. *, co-corresponding author. Cell Reports Medicine, 2024 Sep 17;5(9):101715, PMID: 39241772

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  • Zhao YY, Hu D, Wang RH, Sun XY, Ropelewski P, Hubler Z, Lundberg K, Wang QQ, Adams D, Xu R and Qi X, ATAD3A oligomerization promotes neuropathology and cognitive deficits in Alzheimer's disease models by impairing brain cholesterol turnover. Nature Communications, 2022 Mar 2;13(1):1121.  PMID: 35236834 

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  • Hu D, Sun SY, Magpusao A, Fedorov Y, Thompson M, Wang BL, Lundberg K, Adams D and Qi X, Small-molecule suppression of calpastatin degradation reduces neuropathology in models of Huntington’s disease. Nature Communications, 2021 Sep 6;12(1):5305. PMID: 34489447 

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