Joseph Cao

TL;DR: Removal of Drosophila PINK1 homologue function results in male sterility, apoptotic muscle degeneration, defects in mitochondrial morphology and increased sensitivity to multiple stresses including oxidative stress, which underscores the importance of mitochondrial dysfunction as a central mechanism of Parkinson's disease pathogenesis.

TL;DR: It is shown that Omi/HtrA2 null mutants in Drosophila, in contrast to pink1 or parkin null mutants, do not show mitochondrial morphological defects and retains significant, if not full, function of Omi/, as well as expression of protease-compromised versions of the protein.

TL;DR: The UCLA Undergraduate Consortium for Functional Genomics provides the answer to how to combine professional-quality research with discovery-based undergraduate education.

TL;DR: The data reveal the surprising result that the X chromosome has almost twice the frequency of essential genes involved in eye development as that found on the autosomes.

TL;DR: The ability of SUMO and other ubiquitin-like proteins to diversify protein function may be critical to the evolution of developmental complexity.