Jayanta Debnath, MD
Research and Clinical Interests
My laboratory wishes to understand the role and regulation of autophagy in epithelial homeostasis and cancer pathogenesis. Autophagy is a genetically-controlled catabolic process through which a cell “eats itself” during times of stress or starvation. Autophagy has important therapeutic implications for numerous human diseases, including cancer, yet how this fundamental process influences cancer progression remains unclear. Using in vitro and in vivo approaches, our goals are to investigate the role and regulation of autophagy in:
- Epithelial cell fate and oncogenic transformation
- Chemotherapeutic response in cancer cells
- Tissue homeostasis and tumor formation
Selected Publications
- J. Debnath, Mills, K., Collins, N., Reginato, M., Muthuswamy, S., and Brugge, J. The Role Of Apoptosis In Creating and Maintaining Luminal Space Within Normal and Oncogene-Expressing Mammary Acini. Cell. 111: 29-40. (2002).
- C. Fung, R. Lock. S. Gao, E. Salas, and J. Debnath. Induction of Autophagy During Extracellular Matrix Detachment Promotes Cell Survival. Mol. Biol. Cell. 19:797-806 (2008).
- E.N. N’Diaye, Kajihara, K., Hsieh, I., Morisaki J.H., Debnath, J., and Brown, E.J. PLIC Proteins or Ubiquilins Regulate Autophagy-Dependent Cell Survival During Nutrient Starvation. EMBO Rep. 10(2): 173-79 (2009).
- C. Kenific, Thorburn, A., and Debnath, J. Autophagy and Metastasis, Another Double Edged Sword. Curr. Opin. Cell Biol. 22: 241-45 (2010).
- L. Radoshevich, Murrow, L., Chen, N., Fernandez, E., Roy, S., Fung, C. and J. Debnath. ATG12 Conjugation to ATG3 Regulates Mitochondrial Homeostasis and Cell Death. Cell. In press. (2010).
Selected Awards
- 2000 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship For Physicians.
- 2003 National Cancer Institute Mentored Clinical Scientist Development Award (KO8).
- 2006 Charles E. Culpeper Scholarship in Medical Sciences.
- 2006 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Physician-Scientist Early Career Award.
- 2006 American Association of Cancer Research-Genentech BioOncology Career Award.
Additional Information
- Associate Professor of Pathology
- Pathology
Specialty Area
Cancer Research
Contact Information
- jayanta.debnath@
ucsf.edu - Phone: (415) 476-1780
- Fax: (415) 514-0878
- 513 Parnassus Avenue
- Room HSW-450B, Box 0502
- San Francisco, CA 94143-0502
Other UCSF Organizational Association(s)
Member
- Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program
- UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center
Hospital Affiliation(s)
- Moffitt-Long