About us

Located within the School of Molecular Biosciences at the University of Glasgow. At the MAF, we are academic researchers who specialize in mitochondrial biology. Our team is dedicated to providing a comprehensive facility to address any questions related to mitochondria and related cellular health. We offer state-of-the-art technology, consultation, and guidance to the scientific community and are commited to staying up-to-date with the latest advancements in the field to ensure that we help deliver the best possible results.

Services

Mitochondria are essential organelles found in most eukaryotic cells. They are responsible for producing energy in the form of ATP through cellular respiration. Studying mitochondria is crucial for understanding various diseases, including metabolic disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. Additionally, research on mitochondria has led to the development of new treatments for these diseases.

We provide access and training to a Agilent SeaHorse XF96 Pro Analyzer, as well as offer expertise on a wide range of techniques related to mitochondria to academic researchers and commercial companies. Our team, together with partnered facilities cover essential areas to understanding mitochondrial function or dysfunction, from imaging techniques to investigating small molecular details. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you advance your research.

Mitochondrial isolation

Research

Our facility enables a wide
array of research funded by
the Wellcome Trust, the Biotechnology and Biological
Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)
and EU Horizon 2020.

We are involved in a wide array of research topics, including answering fundamental questions in mitochondria function and the investigation of mitochondrial activity in cancer cells. In pharmecautical discovery and in the search for novel mitochondrial inhibitors. All the way to response testing bacteria to antibiotic treatment and analysing neuronal cells in mental health models.

Heterogeneous metabolic response of endothelial cells from different vascular beds to experimental hyperglycaemia and metformin

C. McAleese, G. Joudah, I. P. Salt, J. R. Petrie, J. M. Leiper, Laura B. Dowsett

(doi: 10.1113/JP288006)

Publications

Sub-organellar mitochondrial hydrogen peroxide observed using a SNAP tag targeted coumarin-based fluorescent reporter

Ross Eaglesfield , Erika Fernandez-Vizarra , Erik Lacko , Stuart T Caldwell , Nikki L Sloan , Daniel Siciarz , Richard C Hartley , Kostas Tokatlidis

(DOI: 10.1016/j.redox.2025.103502)

Respirometry

For assessing mitochondrial health and metabolism, measuring the biological oxygen consumption of living cells is essential.

Agilent Seahorse XF Pro analyzer measures and reports the oxygen consumption rate (OCR), proton efflux rate (PER) or extracellular acidification rate (ECAR), as well as ATP production rates of live cells in a 96-well format. This analyzer features excellent OCR precision at low rates, verified instrument performance, optimized temperature control, and is automation enabled.

OCR, PER, and ATP production rates are critical measurements of energy metabolism and vital indicators of mitochondrial health, toxicity, glycolysis, and overall cellular (dys)function. Together, these measurements provide a systems-level view of cellular metabolic function in cultured cells and ex vivo samples.

More information can be found here.

Mitochondrial analysis

Mitochondria isolation

In mitochondrial biology, to pin down the reasons behind mitochondrial dynsfunction and analyse at a molecular resolution; We must often first isolate mitochondria from the host organism. This technique may very depending on the cell type. Our facility is highly trained in quality mitochondria isolation from both yeast and mammalian systems, which is an essential element to downstream processing and experiments.

Protein import and assembly

Human mitochondria only encode 13 proteins in their DNA. This means the vast majority of mitochondrial proteins need to be imported into mitochondria. These processes are are crucial for mitochondrial function and cellular health and energy production.

Often the hindrance of the import of a single protein can have drastic effects for the cell as a whole and mitochondrial import is often dysregulated in many cancer types.

At our lab, we have studied these import processes extensively and are keen to share our knowledge and expertise.

Analysis of proteins and protein complexes

The understand the molecular mechanisms that underpin mitochondrial dysfunction which involve proteins, we must often isolate proteins from their host and look at their behaviour in close detail. Our partners at the Integrated Protein Analysis Facility can provide on-site services ranging from recombinant protein preparation to state of the art instrumentation for biophysical analyses of proteins, as well as structural analysis.

When the integrity of the respiratory complexes are in question, the assembly of which are known to be behind several mitochondrial illnesses, we can use BN-PAGE analysis , for which our team has experience in and can provide instrumentation for.

Imaging

Our answers may lie at looking at the mitochondrial networks as a whole. We have accumulated years of experience in microscopy techniques to visualize mitochondria, and developed fluorescent molecular probes that can be targeted to mitochondria to report elevated levels of reactive oxygen species. Our on-site partners at the Cellular Analysis Facility can provide training and access to a variety of microscopes, inculding Confocal, Spinning-Disk and Super-Resolution microscopes.