Asst. Prof Thomas McWilliams

Autophagy pathways destroy defective organelles via lysosomal elimination and are relevant for neurodevelopment and neurodegeneration. Although routinely implicated in disease, their physiological regulation and clinical relevance have remained unclear. We and others recently demonstrated the clinical importance of macroautophagy for the first time. Our findings on the selective elimination of mitochondria (mitophagy) in mammalian tissues have provoked a significant reassessment of this process, which holds relevance for pathomechanisms of Parkinson’s disease. In the lab, we aim to leverage our expertise with novel reporter models, organelle signalling and in vivo cell biology to understand how autophagy underpins tissue integrity in various physiological contexts. We are particularly interested in how metabolism regulates autophagy and how autophagy integrates with metabolism to afford neuroprotection throughout life