We are trying to understand the regulation and function of the mitochondrial electron transport chain, a series of large membrane protein complexes that are central to our metabolism. These complexes form into supercomplexes the function of which are unclear. We are solving the structures of these supercomplexes in order to get a better understanding of their role in metabolism. Defects of the mitochondrial electron transport chain cause severe neuro-degenerative diseases and high-resolution structures of the supercomplexes will help us to better understand the disease mechanisms and may lead to new therapies. The overall objectives of the project are to get high resolution structures of the mitochondrial electron transport chain complexes that will give us insight into the mechanism of the individual complexes and how they work together. We also hope to get insight into how malfunctioning of the complexes lead to disease.