Dillon J. Chung (he/him)

Mitochondria are the nexus of metabolic homeostasis for most eukaryotic life. But we do not fully understand how organisms alter mitochondrial performance in vivo and the consequences of these modifications at higher levels of biological organization. My research attempts to bridge these knowledge gaps, as these processes likely dictate the organismal capacity to respond to changes in biological workloads and changes in their environment.

To do this work I use organisms that exhibit natural variation in mitochondrial physiology, including models of ectothermic thermal performance, mammalian hibernation and most recently shrews; small mammals that exhibit the highest mass-specific metabolic rates and heart rates.