Center for Molecular and Mitochondrial Medicine and Genetics (MAMMAG)

Figure 1

Overview

The mission of the Center for Molecular and Mitochondrial Medicine and Genetics (MAMMAG) is to bring together basic scientists, clinical investigators, and patients within the University of California (UC) system to determine the causes and to generate cures for the common metabolic and degenerative diseases, cancer, and aging. To achieve this ambitious goal, our Center is applying a new biomedical paradigm which argues that age-related diseases are primarily caused by mitochondrial energy deficiency resulting from inherited partial energetic defects that are exacerbated by the age-related accumulation of somatic mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations. This paradigm predicts that effective preventative therapeutics must emphasize the stabilization of mitochondrial function and that ameliorative therapies must focus on the replacement of cells lost due to cellular energy failure through use of stem cell technologies. Therefore, MAMMAG’s translational research has two main emphases: Mitochondrial and Molecular Medicine, and Germ and Stem Cell Biology.