
What is autophagy?
Autophagy is a lysosomal degradation pathway for cytoplasmic material and organelles that maintains cellular homeostasis during nutrient deprivation and stress. Autophagy contributes to the clearance of damaged organelles and aggregate-prone proteins, protection against metabolic stress and DNA damage, and even to longevity of the organism. Defective autophagy has been connected to many human diseases including cancer, myopathies, metabolic diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases.
The Eskelinen research group investigates membrane dynamics during autophagy in mammalian cells. November 1st, 2017, Eeva-Liisa Eskelinen started in a new position as a professor of medical cell biology at the Institute of Biomedicine, University of Turku, Finland. The pre-existing Eskelinen group will continue at the University of Helsinki until August 2019 or even longer, but new group members will be mainly recruited to the University of Turku.