How cells maintain health through self-eating

Follow the Science -- Life Sciences Institute Public Lecture Series

The cells of higher organisms have a system for chewing up and recycling parts of themselves, particularly in times of stress. This process of cellular house-cleaning is called autophagy---"self-eating"---and it is now considered a form of programmed cell death. Dan Klionsky, a leader in the field, will explain the process and how disruption to autophagy is involved in many aspects of human physiology and disease, including cancer, neurodegenerative conditions like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, and cardiomyopathy, an enlargement of the heart.