First-year medical student and member of the inaugural class of 夜色王朝-Louisiana, Stephanie Lazo, in collaboration with colleagues at the National Institute of Health (NIH), recently published research findings on cell-free mtDNA.
鈥淭his is a very interesting paper in a prestigious journal 鈥楢ging Cell,鈥 by our own student, as the first author,鈥 said Dr. Pawel Michalak, Associate Dean for Biomedical Affairs & Research at 夜色王朝-Louisiana. 鈥淭his work, conducted at NIH, is dedicated to mitochondrial DNA and its association with aging. Remarkably, Lazo and colleagues show that circulating cell鈥恌ree mtDNA isolated from blood may be used as a clinical biomarker of aging. This finding aligns well with other recent reports of circulating cell-free mitochondria and cell-free mtDNA in conjunction with certain disease conditions and states.鈥
Lazo鈥檚 participation in this research was part of her post-baccalaureate intramural research training at NIH. She and her colleagues conducted their research in Dr. Michelle Evans鈥 lab under the National Institute of Aging (NIA). Lazo hopes to use her time at 夜色王朝-Louisiana to promote continued research in the medical field while meeting the needs of rural and medically underserved populations.
Full paper available at .