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- 2023
- Congratulations to Dustin King, Amy Lee and David Vocadlo: recipients of New Frontiers in Research Fund
- SFU research aids fight against treatment-resistant superbugs
- Leroux lab Nature Communications paper identifies novel human disease gene linked to retinal degeneration, one of a growing number of genes associated with ciliary dysfunction (ciliopathies)
- Graduate student Minh Nguyen and his colleagues in the Craig lab reveal the mechanism of Type IV-pilus mediated bacterial secretion
- Global News BC: Dr. Fiona Brinkman Discusses How Scientists Track Mutations in the New Covid-19 Variants
- 2022
- Congratulations to Dr. Tim Audas on The Renewal of Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Cellular Stress
- $2 Million Gift From SFU Professors Emeriti Helps Seed New Ideas at SFU Science
- Learn more about Dr. King's new lab that focuses on natural ‘carbon capture’ solutions
- Congratulations to Dr. Amy Lee: The Recipient of The Banting Research Foundation's 2022 Discovery Award
- MBB Alumnus Profile: Meet Dr. Razvan Cojocaru, The Recipient of Governor General’s Gold Medal
- MBB Alumnus Profile: Meet Cory Macklin Who Overcame Challenges to Win Governor General's Silver Medal
- Congratulations to Dr. Razvan Cojocaru, the recipient of Dr. Bruce Brandhorst Prizes for Best Publication and Best PhD Thesis
- Meet Our Newest Faculty: Dr. Dustin King on His Exploration of Weaving Western Science with Indigenous Ways of Knowing
- Congratulations to our June 2022 Graduands
- Dr. Lynne Quarmby and Her Book "WaterMelon Snow: Science, Art, and a Lone Polar Bear" is Featured in SFU Knowledge Mobilizers Series
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- Congratulations to Dr. Mani Larijani for Being Awarded a Prestigious New Frontiers in Research Fund Grant
- A New Paper from Beh Lab on ER-PM membrane contact site regulation by yeast ORPs and membrane stress pathways has been published in Plos Genetics Journal
- Dr. Lorena Braid is featured among new and renewed Canada Research Chairs
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Gorski Lab
The study of autophagy (= “self-eating”) has generated tremendous attention due to the recognition that autophagy is involved in multiple developmental processes and various human diseases including cancer.
Autophagy is a catabolic cellular process that provides nutrients and energy through lysosomal degradation of cytoplasmic components engulfed in double membrane-bound vesicles known as autophagosomes. Autophagy occurs at basal rates in virtually all eukaryotic cells to fulfill homeostatic functions such as the recycling of long-lived proteins and damaged organelles. In this way, autophagy acts to safeguard genome integrity and suppress tumorigenesis. Under cellular stress conditions, autophagy is upregulated as an adaptive survival response. Cancer cells may exploit elevated autophagy to survive low nutrient conditions, fuel proliferation, and escape the effects of chemotherapy and other treatments. Consequently, autophagy is under investigation as a target for anticancer therapy in preclinical studies and clinical trials. However, our understanding of the mechanisms by which cells utilize the autophagy pathway to promote both normal development and cancer progression is limited.
To help elucidate these mechanisms, the overall goals of my research program are to identify and characterize regulators of autophagy, investigate the roles of autophagy during normal development, and evaluate the therapeutic potential of autophagy modulation for cancer treatment.
For more information, visit our research lab website.
Email:
SHARON GORSKI
sgorski@bcgsc.ca
Lab Room:
BCCA Genome Sciences Centre 7-124
Lab Phone:
(604) 675-8000 (local 7905)
Selected Publications
- Yang KC, Kalloger SE, Aird JJ, Lee MKC, Rushton C, Mungall KL, Mungall AJ, Gao D, Chow C, *Xu J, Karasinska JM, Colborne S, Jones SJM, Schrader J, Morin RD, Loree JM, Marra MA, Renouf DJ, Morin GB, Gorski SM. Proteotranscriptomic classification and characterization of pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms. Cell Reports. Epub 2021 Oct 12. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109817. PMID: 34644566
- Lebovitz C, Wretham N, Osooly M, Milne K, Dash T, Thornton S, Tessier-Cloutier B, Sathiyaseelan P, Bortnik S, Go NE, Halvorsen E, Cederberg RA, Chow N, Dos Santos N, Bennewith KL, Nelson BH, Bally MB, Lam WL, Gorski SM. Loss of Parkinson's susceptibility gene LRRK2 promotes carcinogen-induced lung tumorigenesis. Scientific Reports. 2021 Jan 22;11(1):2097. PMID: 33483550
- Ho CJ, Samarasekera G, Rothe K, Xu J, Yang KC, Leung E, Chan M, Jiang X, Gorski SM. Puncta intended: connecting the dots between autophagy and cell stress networks. Autophagy. 2020 Jun 7:1-6. PMID: 32507070
- Bortnik S, Tessier-Cloutier B, Leung S, Xu J, Asleh K, Burugu S, Magrill J, Greening K, Derakhshan F, Yip S, Ng T, Gelmon KA, Nielsen TO, Gorski SM. Differential expression and prognostic relevance of autophagy-related markers ATG4B, GABARAP, and LC3B in breast cancer. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. 2020 Oct;183(3):525-47. PMID: 32685993
- 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 Aug 3;8(1):11653. PMID: 30076329. PMCID: PMC6076261.