Christoph: Recent publications suggest that mitochondria are frequently exchanged between cells in different settings, mostly after stress events like strokes. To date, it is difficult to gain insights into these mitochondrial transfer events due to a lack of precise tools. FluidFM enabled to transplant mitochondria from cell to cell at high efficiency and maintaining viability, which enabled us to follow the fate of transplanted mitochondrial subpopulations for the first time. The volume scalability additionally allows us to inject variable amounts of mitochondria, which will enable clear dose-response relationship studies in the future.

Christoph: My work here at the institute of Microbiology at ETH in the group of Julia Vorholt gave me the opportunity to study mitochondria from a totally new and fascinating perspective! As a motivated sportsman, I was naturally drawn to the cellular components that produce the chemical energy equivalents that enable me to run or swim. As a microbiologist I find them mesmerizing as the remnants of an endosymbiotic relationship between two types of bacteria that eventually led to the formation of eukaryotic cells.