Schedule 2026

08:00 – 08:50 AM Registration & Continental Breakfast
08:50 – 09:00 AM Welcome/Introductions

Session 1: Molecular Mechanisms of Autophagy Initiation

09:00 – 09:45 AM Unraveling the molecular details of autophagy initiation
Sharon A. Tooze, PhD
Principal Group Leader, Molecular Cell Biology of Autophagy Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute
09:45 – 10:30 AM Understanding Mitophagy Initiation using Biochemical Reconstitution
Michael J. Ragusa, PhD
Associate Professor, Chemistry Department, Dartmouth
10:30 – 10:45 AM Break

Session 2: Bringing Autophagy into Focus: Structure and Prediction

10:45 – 11:30 AM Autophagy through the lens of structural biology 
James H. Hurley, PhD
Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley
11:30 – 12:15 PM Autophagy through a computational lens: predicting molecular interactions 
Christopher Shoemaker, PhD
Associate Professor, Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Geisel School of Medicine
12:15 – 01:30 PM Lunch

  • Graduate Studies Resource Fair
  • Set up posters for afternoon poster session

Session 3: Autophagy in Cellular Physiology and Disease

01:30 – 02:15 PM Autophagy, organelle clearance and disease
Eric H. Baehrecke, PhD
Professor and Our Danny Cancer Fund Chair in Biomedical Research, UMass Chan Medical School
02:15 – 03:00 PM Dynamics of autophagy in neurons 
Erika Holzbaur, PhD
William Maul Measey Professor of Physiology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
03:00 – 05:00 PM Reception

  • Graduate Studies Resource Tables
  • Poster Session