Kryza, Jordan
Jordan is in the Cell and Developmental Biology home area of the MBIDP and joined the CMB training program in 2018. He received a B.S. degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Mentor: Dr. Leanne Jones
Stem cells are unspecialized cells that are important in maintaining tissue homeostasis. Their identity is tightly regulated by many autonomous and nonautonomous biochemical inputs present in the stem cell niche, the complex microenvironment in which stem cells reside. Broadly, our goal is to understand how these inputs are integrated to facilitate cell fate decisions.
The mitochondria of adult stem cells are often distinct from those of their differentiated progeny. During Drosophila spermatogenesis, for example, the mitochondria undergo profound changes in mass, complexity, and localization. However, it remains unclear whether these changes in mitochondria promote differentiation or are a product of it. Recently, our group has revealed a tripartite relationship between lipid homeostasis, mitochondrial dynamics, and stem cell fate decisions in the Drosophila testis. Hence, my project focuses on understanding how lipid metabolism is involved in regulating stem cell dynamics and tissue homeostasis in vivo.
