Hillary Ann Coller, Ph.D., CLIP Investigator University of California, Los Angeles

Autophagy is a cellular degradation pathway that, when it occurs in cancer cells, can impact the growth and behavior of the resulting tumor. The precise effects of stromal autophagy—as well as how they are mediated—are not well understood, though. Dr. Hillary Coller has developed a novel model that allows her to investigate how stromal autophagy affects the interactions between different cell types within the tumor environment. Specifically, she’s investigating how autophagy in the stroma might influence the response to immunotherapy. These insights could then potentially be used to develop complementary therapies that make immunotherapy more effective and improve patient survival.

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