Malene Hansen - "Cellular recycling: Role of autophagy in aging and disease"
The Hansen lab's research is directed towards understanding the molecular mechanisms that affect the process of aging.
Using a combination of genetic, cytological and biochemical approaches in the genetically tractable model organism C. elegans as well as in mammalian cell culture, we focus on unraveling how several evolutionarily conserved signaling pathways and processes modulate organismal aging.
A particular focus of the lab is to understand the role of autophagy, a basic cellular process by which cytosolic components are being degraded and recycled in organismal aging. Autophagy has been linked to many age-related diseases as well as aging, and new molecular insights on how autophagy functions in aging may facilitate future treatments of age-linked disorders, including cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.