Lena Pernas, PhD (she/her)

CV

Scientific Career

2019 - today    |    Max Planck Research Group Leader
Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, Cologne, Germany
2014 - 2018    |    Life Science Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow 
with Dr. Luca Scorrano, Department of Biology, University of Padua, Italy
2008 - 2013    |    NSF/GRFP Graduate Fellow
with Dr. John Boothroyd, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University, USA
2006 - 2008    |    MARC Undergraduate Fellow
with Dr. Kent Hill, Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Molecular Genetics, UCLA, USA

Education

2008 - 2013    |    Stanford University School of Medicine, Ph.D.
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
2004 - 2008    |    University of California Los Angeles, B.S. 
Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, magna cum laude with Honor’s Thesis 

Selected Awards

2017                |   Science News: Top 10 Scientists to Watch
2015 - 2018    |   Life Sciences Research Foundation Fellowship
2014 - 2015    |   EMBO LT Fellowship
2014                |   DTI-IMPORT Fellowship
2008 - 2013    |   Gabilan Fellow, Stanford Graduate Fellowship
2008 - 2013    |   National Science Foundation Fellowship
2006 - 2008    |   Maximizing Access to Research Careers Fellowship (NIH)

Third-party funding

2020 - 2025    |    European Research Council (ERC) - ERC Starting Grant
2020 - 2024    |    German Research Foundation (DFG) - Research Training Grant RTG2550 "Dynamic Regulation of Cellular Protein Localization" Member
2019 - 2022    |    Chinese Research Council (CRC) - Graduate Fellowship
2016 - 2020    |    German Research Council - Collaborative Research Center 1218: Mitochondrial Regulation of Cellular Function
2015 - 2018    |    Life Science Research Foundation (LSRF)- Simons Postdoctoral Fellow
2014                |    European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) - Longterm Postdoctoral Fellowship

Selected publications

Mitochondria shed their outer membrane in response to infection-induced stress
Li, X., Straub, J., Medeiros, T. C., Mehra, C., den Brave, F., Peker, E., Atanassov, I., Stillger, K., Michaelis, J. B., Burbridge, E., Adrain, C., Munch, C., Riemer, J., Becker, T., Pernas, L. F.
(2022) Science, 375, 6577, eabi4343

Cellular metabolism in the defense against microbes
Pernas, L.
(2021) J Cell Sci, 134, 5

Mitochondria Restrict Growth of the Intracellular Parasite Toxoplasma gondii by Limiting Its Uptake of Fatty Acids
Pernas, L., Bean, C., Boothroyd, J. C., Scorrano, L.
(2018) Cell Metab, 27, 4, 886-897 e4

Mito-Morphosis: Mitochondrial Fusion, Fission, and Cristae Remodeling as Key Mediators of Cellular Function
Pernas, L., Scorrano, L.
(2016) Annu Rev Physiol, 78, 505-31

Toxoplasma effector MAF1 mediates recruitment of host mitochondria and impacts the host response
Pernas, L., Adomako-Ankomah, Y., Shastri, A. J., Ewald, S. E., Treeck, M., Boyle, J. P., Boothroyd, J. C.
(2014) PLoS Biol, 12, 4, e1001845

Association of host mitochondria with the parasitophorous vacuole during Toxoplasma infection is not dependent on rhoptry proteins ROP2/8
Pernas, L., Boothroyd, J. C.
(2010) Int J Parasitol, 40, 12, 1367-71

For full publication list; see https://www.age.mpg.de/pernas/publications