We are interested in mechanisms of autophagy regulation, with a focus on discovering how to modulate the pathway for optimal therapeutic benefit. Autophagy is a highly conserved pathway that recycles cellular components to maintain homeostasis and support metabolism, ensuring survival of the organism. Deregulation of autophagy has important consequences for aging, innate immunity, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer although they have an incomplete understanding of how the pathway is regulated. The Strohecker lab uses a combination of cell culture, genetically engineered mouse models, microscopy, and loss of function screening as tools to identify novel regulators of the autophagy pathway.