Education

• B.Sc., Biology (honours), Simon Fraser University
• M.Sc., Genetics, University of British Columbia
• Ph.D., Developmental Biology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, USA

Research Interests

Autophagy is an intracellular recycling process that promotes stress adaptation and cell survival. Our research program explores the contributions of autophagy to proteostasis, normal development, and cancer progression with a focus on breast and pancreatic cancers. We are also investigating the therapeutic potential of autophagy modulation in these cancers.

For more information visit our research lab website.

Selected Publications:

• Bosc D, Vezenkov L, Bortnik S, An J, Xu J, Choutka C, Hannigan AM, Kovacic S, Loo S, Clark PGK, Chen G, Guay-Ross RN, Yang K, Dragowska WH, Zhang F, Go NE, Leung A, Honson NS, Pfeifer TA, Gleave M, Bally M, Jones SJ, Gorski SM, Young RN. A new quinoline-based chemical probe inhibits the autophagy-related cysteine protease ATG4B. Scientific Reports. 2018; 8(1):11653. PMID: 30076329
• Xu J, Camfield R, Gorski SM. The interplay between exosomes and autophagy - partners in crime. Journal of Cell Science. 2018; 131(15). PMID: 30076239
• Choutka C, DeVorkin L, Go NE, Hou YC, Moradian A, Morin GB, Gorski SM. Hsp83 loss suppresses proteasomal activity resulting in an upregulation of caspase-dependent compensatory autophagy. Autophagy. 2017; 13(9):1573-1589. PMID: 28806103
• Bortnik S, Choutka C, Horlings HM, Leung S, Baker JH, Lebovitz C, Dragowska WH, Go NE, Bally MB, Minchinton AI, Gelmon KA, Gorski SM. Identification of breast cancer cell subtypes sensitive to ATG4B inhibition. Oncotarget. 2016; 7(41):66970-66988. PMID: 27556700

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