Sharon Tooze : Secretory Pathways

Goals

Autophagy is self-degradation, self-eating, process that cells use primarily as a survival response, and which is closely aligned with the machinery which controls cell growth. Autophagy is increased and used for cell survival during periods of nutrient deprivation or stress caused by unfavorable environments. It is also used by cells to maintain the health of their internal organelles thus minimizing damage amd perturbation of cellular homeostasis. Alterations in both the basal and amplified survival response modes of autophagy have been shown to be important for the development of disease, in particular cancer and neurodegeneration. My laboratory studies the proteins involved in the process with the aim of understanding the membranes which perform autophagy, the autophagosomes. These compartments, the autophagsosomes are unique membrane enclosed subcellular structures. To fulfil this aim we focus on a key Atg proteins which transmit the induction signals to the machinery which responds to the signals, specifically the downstream events involving trafficking of membrane to the site of the autophagosome membrane formation