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About

I have over 10 years of experience in mitochondrial biochemistry, particularly in the areas of translocase function and in mitochondrial quality control (PINK1/Parkin pathway). I completed my PhD at the University of South Australia, followed by a postdoc at the Mitochondrial Protein Biogenesis lab (led by Prof, Peter Rehling) at the University Medical Center Göttingen, Germany. In 2019 I joined the lab of Prof. David Komander as a Senior Research Officer where I focus on understanding how the failure of mitochondrial quality control systems can lead to Parkinson’s disease.

I am passionate about understanding mitochondrial function, how ubiquitin regulates mitochondrial integrity and why defects in mitochondria can lead to neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s disease and Mito disease.

I co-host the WEHI Parkinson’s disease seminar series and have been involved with scientific journals as both a peer reviewer and topic editor. I am also a member of the Australian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB).

Publications

Selected publications from Dr Sylvie Callegari

Callegari S, Kirk NS, Gan ZY, Dite T, Cobbold SA, Leis A, Dagley LF, Glukhova A, Komander D. Structure of human PINK1 at a mitochondrial TOM-VDAC array. Science. 2025;388(6744):10.1126/science.adu6445

Gan ZY, Callegari S, Nguyen TN, Kirk NS, Leis A, Lazarou M, Dewson G, Komander D. Interaction of PINK1 with nucleotides and kinetin. Science Advances. 2024;10(3):10.1126/sciadv.adj7408

Gan ZY, Callegari S, Cobbold SA, Cotton TR, Mlodzianoski MJ, Schubert AF, Geoghegan ND, Rogers KL, Leis A, Dewson G, Glukhova A, Komander D. Activation mechanism of PINK1. Nature. 2022;602(7896):10.1038/s41586-021-04340-2

Valpadashi A, Callegari S, Linden A, Neumann P, Ficner R, Urlaub H, Deckers M, Rehling P. Defining the architecture of the human TIM22 complex by chemical crosslinking. FEBS Letters. 2021;595(2):10.1002/1873-3468.13978

Callegari S, Cruz-Zaragoza LD, Rehling P. From TOM to the TIM23 complex – handing over of a precursor. Biological Chemistry. 2020;401(6-7):10.1515/hsz-2020-0101

Callegari S, Müller T, Schulz C, Lenz C, Jans DC, Wissel M, Opazo F, Rizzoli SO, Jakobs S, Urlaub H, Rehling P, Deckers M. A MICOS–TIM22 Association Promotes Carrier Import into Human Mitochondria. Journal of Molecular Biology. 2019;431(15):10.1016/j.jmb.2019.05.015

Callegari S, Rehling P. Guarding the gate for mitochondrial entry. Nature. 2019;569(7758):10.1038/d41586-019-01588-7

Pacheu-Grau D, Callegari S, Emperador S, Thompson K, Aich A, Topol SE, Spencer EG, McFarland R, Ruiz-Pesini E, Torkamani A, Taylor RW, Montoya J, Rehling P. Mutations of the mitochondrial carrier translocase channel subunit TIM22 cause early-onset mitochondrial myopathy. Human Molecular Genetics. 2018;27(23):10.1093/hmg/ddy305

Callegari S, Oeljeklaus S, Warscheid B, Dennerlein S, Thumm M, Rehling P, Dudek J. Phospho-ubiquitin-PARK2 complex as a marker for mitophagy defects. Autophagy. 2017;13(1):10.1080/15548627.2016.1254852

Callegari S, Richter F, Chojnacka K, Jans DC, Lorenzi I, Pacheu‐Grau D, Jakobs S, Lenz C, Urlaub H, Dudek J, Chacinska A, Rehling P. TIM29 is a subunit of the human carrier translocase required for protein transport. FEBS Letters. 2016;590(23):10.1002/1873-3468.12450

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