Biography

I am a structural biologist fascinated by how life works at the molecular level, especially within the central factory of cellular energy production — the mitochondria. Proteins are delicate molecular machines that perform diverse functions to sustain life. Because of their extremely small size (only a few nanometres), it is always challenging to study their structures and understand their functions at atomic resolution. During my undergraduate research, I solved the high-resolution crystal structure of human mitochondrial genome maintenance exonuclease 1 (MGME1) in complex with DNA, providing insights into how mitochondrial DNA replication is regulated. This work was published in Nucleic Acids Research and received the IUCr Journals Poster Prize for Structural Biology at the 2023 International Union of Crystallography conference in Melbourne. As a PhD researcher at Cambridge, I am investigating the activation mechanism of human mitochondrial uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1), a small membrane protein that mediates proton translocation across the mitochondrial inner membrane. Gates Cambridge community provides a fantastic environment where I can meet talented people from around the world with diverse backgrounds and expertise. I will continue exploring the molecular mechanisms underlying human life and hope to make a substantial impact in both science and society.

Previous Education

National Cheng Kung University Chemistry and Life Sciences 2024

Links

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericycmao