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Staff Profile

Dr Katja Menger

Research Associate

  • Email: katja.menger@ncl.ac.uk
  • Address: Mitochondrial Research Group
    4th Floor Cookson Building
    The Medical School
    Newcastle University
    Framlington Place
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    NE2 4HH
Background

Research

Research Associate, Newcastle University (2018-current). Lab of Dr. Tom Nicholls.

Research Associate, University College London (2014-2018). Lab of Prof. Robin Ali.

Investigator Scientist, MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit, Cambridge (2013-2014), lab of Prof Michael Murphy.

Education

PhD Mitochondrial Genetics, University of Cambridge (2009-2014), lab of Prof Michael Murphy

BSc and MSc Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Oulu (2005-2008)

Undergraduate studies in Biochemistry, Friedrich Schiller University Jena (2002-2005)

Research

Mitochondrial DNA maintenance, propagation and disease

Human cells contain several thousand copies of the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) which are packaged into nucleoprotein complexes termed nucleoids. These genomes are replicated throughout the cell cycle, and are found evenly distributed around the dynamic mitochondrial network. At the end of mtDNA replication the genomes must be disentangled and resolved, before then being distributed within the cell. Our work uses molecular, biochemical and cell biology techniques to study these processes in human cells. The aims of this work are: (1) to determine how mtDNA is disentangled following DNA replication; (2) to identify and characterise factors that are required for mtDNA resolution and segregation; and (3) to elucidate the molecular basis of human mitochondrial diseases linked to impaired mtDNA resolution and segregation.

Publications

  • Articles

    • Bernardino Gomes TM, Vincent AE, Menger KE, Stewart JB, Nicholls TJ. Mechanisms and pathologies of human mitochondrial DNA replication and deletion formation. Biochemical Journal 2024, 481(11), 683-715.
    • Erdinc D, Rodriguez-Luis A, Fassad MR, Mackenzie S, Watson CM, Valenzuela S, Xie X, Menger KE, Sergeant K, Craig K, Hopton S, Falkous G, Poulton J, Garcia-Moreno H, Giunti P, de Moura Aschoff CA, Morales Saute JA, Kirby AJ, Toro C, Wolfe L, Novacic D, Greenbaum L, Eliyahu A, Barel O, Anikster Y, McFarland R, Gorman GS, Schaefer AM, Gustafsson CM, Taylor RW, Falkenberg M, Nicholls TJ. Pathological variants in TOP3A cause distinct disorders of mitochondrial and nuclear genome stability. EMBO Molecular Medicine 2023, 15(5), e16775.
    • Menger KE, Logan A, Luhmann UFO, Smith AJ, Wright AF, Ali RR, Murphy MP. In vivo measurement of mitochondrial ROS production in mouse models of photoreceptor degeneration. Redox Biochemistry and Chemistry 2023, 5-6, 100007.
    • Menger KE, Chapman J, Díaz-Maldonado H, Khazeem MM, Deen D, Erdinc D, Casement JW, Di Leo V, Pyle A, Rodríguez-Luis A, Cowell IG, Falkenberg M, Austin CA, Nicholls TJ. Two type I topoisomerases maintain DNA topology in human mitochondria. Nucleic Acids Research 2022, gkac857.
    • Tan BG, Mutti CD, Shi Y, Xie X, Zhu X, Silva-Pinheiro P, Menger KE, Díaz-Maldonado H, Wei W, Nicholls TJ, Chinnery PF, Minczuk M, Falkenberg M, Gustafsson CM. The human mitochondrial genome contains a second light strand promoter. Molecular Cell 2022, 82(19), 3646-3660.e9.
    • Villacampa, P, Liyanage, SE, Klaska, IP, Cristante, E, Menger, KE, Sampson, RD, Barlow, M, Abelleira-Hervas, L, Duran, Y, Smith, AJ, Ali, RR, Luhmann, UFO, Bainbridge, JWB. Stabilization of myeloid-derived HIFs promotes vascular regeneration in retinal ischemia. Angiogenesis 2019, 23, 83-90.
    • Alm, E, Broberg, EK, Connor, T, Hodcroft, EB, Komissarov, AB, Maurer-Stroh, S, Melidou, A, Neher, RA, O'Toole, A, Pereyaslov, D, The WHO European Region sequencing laboratories and GISAID EpiCoV group, M. Geographical and temporal distribution of SARS-CoV-2 clades in the WHO European Region, January to June 2020. Eurosurveillance 2020, 25.
    • Chouchani ET, James AM, Methner C, Pell VR, Prime TA, Erickson BK, Forkink M, Lau GY, Bright TP, Menger KE, Fearnley IM, Krieg T, Murphy MP. Identification and quantification of protein S-nitrosation by nitrite in the mouse heart during ischemia. Journal of Biological Chemistry 2017, 292(35), 14486-14495.
    • Villacampa, P, Menger, KE, Abelleira, L, Ribeiro, J, Duran, Y, Smith, AJ, Ali, RR, Luhmann, UF, Bainbridge, JWB. Accelerated oxygen-induced retinopathy is a reliable model of ischemia-induced retinal neovascularization. PLoS ONE 2017.
    • Menger KE, James AM, Cochemé HM, Harbour ME, Chouchani ET, Ding S, Fearnley IM, Partridge L, Murphy MP. Fasting, but Not Aging, Dramatically Alters the Redox Status of Cysteine Residues on Proteins in Drosophila melanogaster. Cell Reports 2015, 11(12), 1856-1865.

  • Review