Millions of people worldwide suffer from anxiety and eating disorders. Although anxiety and eating disorders are highly comorbid, their common underlying molecular mechanisms remain elusive. Mitochondria, the metabolic hubs of the cell, shape anxiety phenotypes and modulate responses to dietary interventions. However, the role of mitochondrial quality control mechanisms, orchestrated by mitochondrial dynamics (mitochondrial biogenesis, fission, fusion, mitophagy), is largely unexplored in these pathologies.

The BOND project aims to elucidate how mitochondrial dynamics modulate the crosstalk of eating and anxiety disorders in brain and oocytes and discover novel mitochondria dynamics-based pharmacological targets. We will use an interdisciplinary methodological approach, including mouse models, behavioral phenotyping, neurobiology, bioenergetics, proteomics/metabolomics and pharmacology. We will elucidate affected mitochondrial dynamics pathways in highly anxious mouse brain and oocytes upon dietary interventions and investigate whether pharmacological manipulation of selected identified alterations alleviates eating and anxiety disorders-related symptomatology. 

The BOND project will disentangle how mitochondrial dynamics shape the effects of anxiety and eating disorders in the brain and the reproductive system, contribute towards devising targeted therapeutic strategies for at risk, vulnerable populations and help raise awareness for mental and reproductive health.