Houjun Xia

Autophagy is a regulated mechanism that removes unnecessary or dysfunctional cellular components and recycles metabolic substrates. In response to stress signals in the tumor microenvironment, the autophagy pathway is altered in tumor cells and immune cells, thereby differentially affecting tumor progression, immunity, and therapy. To further understand the effect of autophagy on the cancer progression and therapy, the laboratory employs a wide range of experimental techniques including traditional biochemical and molecular biological analyses; genetic approaches including conventional and conditional gene targeting and transgenesis in mice; large scale gene expression analyses and bioinformatics. In addition, the laboratory plans to screen autophagy specific inhibitors to synergize other anti-tumor immunotherapies.