Identifiying and characterizing regulators of apoptosis, autophagy, and autophagic cell death. Projects employ genetics, gene expression, functional genomics, and protein-protein interaction approaches to identify and characterize factors required for cell death and autophagy in the Drosophila model system. Human orthologs of genes discovered in Drosophila will be tested for similar roles in human cell line systems.
Exploring the effects of altered autophagy in anti-cancer therapy. To test whether alteration in autophagy levels can affect sensitivity to endocrine therapy, chemotherapy and/or irradiation, an autophagy gene-siRNA based strategy is being employed in human breast and other cancer cell lines. The effects of siRNA-mediated autophagy gene knockdown on cellular signaling pathways are also being explored. In addition, we are developing high throughput assays to screen libraries for autophagy inhibitors and activators
