Mitochondria are energy-producing organelles vital for neuron survival and function. There are millions of mitochondria within a single neuron that require continuous repair and removal to maintain a healthy population of mitochondria. Chantell Evans will explore how neurons use these quality control pathways to restore or sequester and eliminate damaged mitochondria. These clean-up processes, called mitochondrial-derived vesicles and mitophagy, are important for maintaining mitochondrial health and are implicated in Parkinson’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. By studying healthy nerve cells and cells from people with neurodegenerative diseases, Evans plans to discover how neurons perform this important quality control and how these pathways may compensate for one another in disease backgrounds.