Matthew Jason Young

Matthew Jason Young is an Assistant Professor at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, affiliated with the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He joined the faculty in 2015 after postdoctoral work at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and earned his B.Sc. and Ph.D. from the University of Manitoba.

• Research Focus: Mitochondrial DNA replication, repair, and toxicant/drug-induced mitochondrial dysfunction.
• Key Techniques: Human cell culture, bioenergetic assays, molecular biology, fluorescence microscopy.

Research Themes: His lab investigates how mutations in mitochondrial DNA maintenance machinery (e.g., POLG, POLG2) and drugs like NRTIs cause mitochondrial diseases such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and mtDNA depletion syndromes. They use HepaRG liver cell models and develop mitochondrial disease models.

• mtDNA Replication: Mechanisms of pol γ and associated proteins.
• Toxicant Targets: NRTI-induced mitochondrial myopathy.
• Disease Models: CRISPR-based mitochondrial dysfunction systems.

Laboratory Members:

• Dr. Matt Young (PI)
• Carolyn Young (Researcher II)
• Grace Forrest (Researcher I)
• Joel Wheeler (M.S. Student)
• Isabel Yunker (Undergraduate Student Worker)
• Michael Lay (Undergraduate Student)