About This Meeting:

Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved catabolic pathway that plays pivotal roles in cellular stress response and homeostasis maintenance. Its dysregulation is implicated in the aging process and diverse pathological conditions including neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's), cancer, metabolic syndromes (diabetes, obesity), and infectious diseases. Substantial progress has been made in elucidating both the core autophagy machinery and systemic regulatory networks. 

This Keystone Symposia conference on Autophagy in Health and Disease: From Mechanisms to Therapeutics will synthesize current knowledge of autophagy mechanisms, functional diversity, and regulatory networks while exploring their implications for understanding disease pathogenesis and achieving clinical translation. The meeting will highlight mechanistic insights into selective autophagy pathways—including mitophagy (mitochondrial degradation), ER-phagy (endoplasmic reticulum turnover), and aggrephagy (protein aggregate clearance)—as well as recent discoveries on non-canonical autophagy pathways and their participation in diverse biological processes. Sessions will also examine therapeutic exploitation of autophagy, including innovative approaches like autophagy-targeting chimeras (AUTACs) enabling precise degradation of disease-causing proteins and organelles. 

Through interdisciplinary dialogue, the meeting will bring together scientists and researchers seeking to bridge fundamental discoveries with therapeutic applications. Joint programming with Induced Proximity and Targeted Protein Degradation: Emerging Technologies and Therapeutic Applications will expand discussion of next-generation therapeutic modalities for targeted degradation and cellular regulation. 

This meeting positions itself as a unique forum for advancing autophagy-based interventions for human health by connecting mechanistic discovery with therapeutic opportunity at a critical moment when innovative approaches are emerging to exploit autophagy for clinical benefit. 

Check out the speaker highlights in the video below: