Diane Bassham
Email: bassham@iastate.edu
Research focus
Role of autophagy in plant responses to environmental stresses.
Model system
Arabidopsis thaliana.
Education and career
1994, Ph.D. in biological science, University of Warwick, UK; advisor: Dr. Colin Robinson. 1994–2001, postdoctoral research associate, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI USA; advisor: Dr. Natasha Raikhel. 2001–present, assistant professor, and currently associate professor of genetics, development and cell biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA USA.
Why do you study autophagy?
As a postdoc, I studied vesicle transport of newly synthesized proteins, mainly hydrolytic enzymes, to the vacuole in plant cells and became interested in the physiological role of these vacuolar proteins. At that time, many of the yeast genes required for autophagy had just been identified and the Arabidopsis genome sequence became available, providing tools to study autophagy in plants. My lab is now studying the function of autophagy in Arabidopsis under different conditions, focusing mainly on abiotic stresses.
What do you think is a key question(s) in the autophagy field?
In the area of autophagy in plants, we now know that activation of autophagy is a response to many different environmental stimuli. A key question is how autophagy is regulated under all of these different conditions and how the regulatory pathways interact with known stress responses. In addition, almost all studies have been performed under laboratory conditions; the significance of autophagy to plants growing in the field or in natural ecosystems is unknown.
Is teaching a substantial part of your current position?
As a faculty member at a public institution, I spend a significant amount of my time on classroom teaching. I teach primarily cell biology at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Teaching cell biology to Ph.D. students benefits my research, particularly in keeping up with current research outside of my immediate field. I have also been involved for several years in a collaborative project to develop a video game (Meta!Blast) to help high school and undergraduate students learn cell biology. We plan to incorporate aspects of the autophagy pathway into future iterations of the game.
Personal comments
In my free time, my favorite activity is flying small airplanes. I hold a commercial pilot’s license and am a tow pilot for the local glider club. I also enjoy camping, hiking and other outdoor activities with my family.
Gianluca Tettamanti
Email: gianluca.tettamanti@uninsubria.it
Research focus
The role of autophagy and apoptosis in Lepidoptera.
Model system
The silkworm, Bombyx mori, and lepidopteran cell lines.
Education and career
1997, biology degree, University of Milano, Milano, Italy. 1998, postgraduate fellowship, King’s College London, London, UK; advisor: Simon M. Hughes. 2003, Ph.D. in evolutionary developmental biology, University of Insubria, Varese, Italy; advisor: Magda de Eguileor. 2004-2011, assistant professor of zoology, University of Insubria. 2011-present, associate professor of zoology, University of Insubria.
Why do you study autophagy?
The main aim of my research is to analyze the role of autophagy and apoptosis in the development of holometabolous insects, i.e., those that have a pupal stage between the final larval and adult stages. Our recent work provided the first direct cellular, molecular, and biochemical evidence that autophagy occurs in the larval organs of Lepidoptera. In addition, we demonstrated that during the remodeling process that takes place in the silkworm midgut, autophagy has a prosurvival role to gain energy from larval cells that are no longer useful to the animal, whereas apoptosis drives cell demise. The next challenge will be to assess whether autophagy also has a function in activating cell death in this organ, thus demonstrating it to be true autophagic cell death.
My laboratory is also interested in the response of silkworm tissues to nutrient deprivation. In particular, we recently cloned the Atg1 homolog in this lepidopteran and we are now focusing on its role in starvation-induced autophagy.
What do you think is a key question in the autophagy field?
One of the hot topics in this field is the role of autophagy in cell death and its relationships with apoptosis and necrosis.
Why is the field of autophagy important to you?
The beginning of the 21st century witnessed the rebirth of the study of cell death in Lepidoptera. In fact, the completion of genome sequencing in B. mori and the development of several genetic and molecular biology tools prompted us and other researchers to revisit the pioneering work done in the 1960s on the metamorphosis of Lepidoptera. Hopefully the fine dissection and modulation of the autophagic and apoptotic processes in silkworm will be exploited for applications such as improving sericulture and the production of silk-based materials.
Which paper in your research field represents seminal work on autophagy?
“Programmed autophagy in the Drosophila fat body is induced by ecdysone through regulation of the PI3K pathway” by Rusten et al. (Dev Cell, 2004). This paper shows how developmental autophagy, a programmed event induced at metamorphosis by ecdysone, is mediated by downregulation of PtdIns3K signaling, a pathway involved also in starvation-induced autophagy in the fly fat body. I think that the demonstration of this link represents a landmark achievement in autophagy research on insects.
Is teaching a substantial part of your current position?
My teaching activities include a course in developmental biology for postgraduate students. Since cell death is a leitmotif in development, I try to integrate my research background and activity. Therefore, my lectures on insect development, regeneration, neurogenesis, etc. are filled with information on cell death.
Personal comments
In the past I spent my leisure time playing volleyball and practicing outdoor sports. Now, time spent away from the laboratory is short and almost completely devoted to the care of my 3-year-old twins.
Olga V. Voitsekhovskaja
Email: ovoitse@yandex.ru
Research focus
Cell-to-cell and long-distance communications in plants.
Model system
Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) BY-2 suspension-cultured cells; Arabidopsis thaliana.
Education and career
1990–1995, student in the Department of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, Faculty for Biology and Soil Sciences, State University of St. Petersburg, Russian Federation. 1998–2001, Ph.D. in biochemistry, Göttingen University, Göttingen, Germany; advisors: Dr. Gertrud Lohaus, Prof. Dr. Hans-Walter Heldt. 2002–present, senior scientist, Komarov Botanical Institute, Laboratory of Plant Ecological Physiology; 2010–present, lecturer, Department of Botany, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation.
Why do you study autophagy?
In 2005, 2006 and 2007 I received DAAD and DFG fellowships for visiting Dr. Sigrun Reumann’s group (Göttingen University), where I worked on the analysis of pexophagy in plant cells. Having started with these studies, I became interested in finding out how this process could participate in the regulation of the ROS levels in plant cells and thus influence intercellular communications in plants. During the last decade, my research on plant cell-to-cell and long-distance communication was supported by grants from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and Russian Academy of Sciences.
As a lecturer, what courses do you teach?
I teach a lecture course “Structure and functional organization of plants” and advanced practical course “Methods of molecular biology for MSc students in botany.”
Personal comments
My favorite free-time activities are hiking, visiting concerts of classical music and opera and watching the best Soviet films. My recently read favorite books are Der Teil und das Ganze by Werner Heisenberg, A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking, and novels by the Russian emigrant writer Ivan Shmelev.
Li Yu
Email: liyulab@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn
Research focus
Autophagy and organelle biogenesis.
Model system
Mammalian cells and Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Education and career
1997–2000, Ph.D., College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China; advisor: Dr. Zhangliang Chen. 2000–2002, visiting fellow, Laboratory of Cellular Molecular Biology, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD USA; advisor: Dr. Ying Zhang. 2002–2008, visiting fellow, Laboratory of Immunology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD USA; advisor: Dr. Michael J. Lenardo. 2008–present, professor, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
Why do you study autophagy?
I stepped upon the field of autophagy by chance. While I was studying zVAD-induced L929 cell death, formation of autophagosomes during the process first triggered my interest. My interest in autophagy has not diminished ever since.
What do you think is a key question in the autophagy field?
How metabolic cues regulate autophagy under physiological or pathological conditions.
What do you hope to achieve in your scientific career?
Enjoy science as much as I can. Keeping doing so; hopefully, I will discover something truly original (not necessarily important).
Is there a key experiment/finding that stands out in your mind with regard to autophagy?
Although it has not yet been done, in vitro reconstitution of autophagosome formation.
Is teaching a substantial part of your current position?
Teaching is a substantial part of my job. I need to teach at least 48 hours a year to fulfill my teaching obligation. I am giving lectures on two main topics this year, one on the intracellular membrane system and the other one on autophagy. I do benefit from teaching. It forces me to read more broadly, think more coherently and speak more concisely. It also gives me a historical perspective about how important discoveries were made.
Personal comments
I was not exactly a perfect student when I was an undergraduate. I failed seven classes and ranked second to the last in my class, and barely managed to get my degree. I enrolled in a master degree program and spent most of my time on the tennis courts. I forget what motivated me to get into a competitive Ph.D. program and am still puzzled how I got admitted into that program. Anyway, toward the end of my Ph.D. years, I started to get interested in science and decided to pursue an academic life. Since I had spent so much time playing during my early years, I had to do a very long (8 years) postdoc to catch up. The good thing is that if, after an 8-year postdoc, you still want to do research, you know you are really interested in science.
Footnotes
Previously published online: www.landesbioscience.com/journals/autophagy/article/21331