This Gordon Research Seminar is designed by young scientists for young scientists to capture the latest advances in the field of autophagy from basic bench-based mechanistic research to the most cutting-edge autophagy-related therapeutics in a clinical setting. 

Autophagy is an evolutionary conserved self-degradative mechanism that permits cells and tissues to better handle stressful stimuli. In particular, it is responsible for delivery of various cellular components and organelles to the lysosome for regular turnover or elimination. This biological mechanism is fast emerging as a vital cellular process with vast therapeutic implications. Indeed, dysfunctional autophagy is implicated in an ever-growing number of human pathologies including neurodegenerative, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, myopathies, as well as cancer. In many instances modulation of aberrant autophagy has been proven sufficient to ameliorate symptoms and improve prognosis, thus setting the stage for the discovery of autophagy modulators with the purpose of treating disease.