Prof. Gu Zhenglong
- Director of Mitochondrial Genetics and Health Research Center
Zhenglong Gu, Ph. D., obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, USA, in 2003 and Bachelor from Beijing University, China, in 1998. He did his postdoc training at Stanford University before he setup his own lab at Cornell University in 2006. He obtained his tenure and full professorship in 2012 and 2018, respectively. Currently his major goal in research is to understand the role of mitochondrial DNA mutation in diseases. He started at Cornell investigating the evolution of aerobic fermentation in yeasts and became interested in mitochondrial genetics purely because he was fascinated by the metabolic similarity between yeast evolution and tumorigenesis (the emergence of Warburg Effect). Recently, his lab has been working on several issues that are critical to demonstrate the important role of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations in diseases, including inventing various sequencing methods to reveal mtDNA mutation pattern during aging and in age-related diseases, developing tools for mtDNA genetic manipulation so mechanic studies can be conducted directly upon mtDNA mutations, and investigating mechanisms underlying mutated mtDNA purging.