Mitophagy Signalling in Health and Disease

我们身体的细胞不断地暴露在来自两个外部来源的潜在破坏性物质中，例如太阳有害的紫外线或致病菌，以及内部来源，包括细胞代谢途径产生的自由基。帮助我们应对这种攻击的一个关键机制是自噬(字面意思是自噬)，通过这种机制，受损和不需要的细胞成分，如线粒体，被定为降解和回收的目标。最近的研究表明，自噬受损与许多疾病有关，如癌症和帕金森氏症等神经退行性疾病，因此任何针对这一过程的药物都可能对治疗这些疾病有利。自噬的实际机制仍然难以捉摸，我的实验室的目的是了解自噬是如何在分子水平上调节和进行的。我们还打算揭开自噬途径的中断如何导致疾病，并利用这些信息来开发新的治疗策略。

The cells of our body are constantly exposed to potentially damaging agents from both external sources, such as the sun's harmful UV rays or pathogenic bacteria, as well as internal sources, including free radicals produced by the cell’s metabolic pathways. A key mechanism that helps us cope with this onslaught is autophagy (which literally means self-eating) whereby damaged and unwanted cellular components, such as mitochondria, are targeted for degradation and recycling. Recent work has indicated that impaired autophagy is linked to many diseases such as cancer and neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s, therefore any drug that could target this process might be advantageous in treating these diseases. The actual mechanisms of autophagy remain elusive and the aim of my lab is to understand how autophagy is regulated and proceeds at the molecular level. We also aim to unravel how the disruption of autophagic pathways can lead to disease and to exploit this information to develop novel therapeutic strategies.