HIGH POINT, N.C., June 24, 2016 – Cell biology research conducted by a High Point University professor and undergraduate students was featured at the Keystone Symposium on autophagy. Dr. Veronica Segarra, assistant professor of biology, received an Early-Career Investigator Travel Award to attend and present the research at the conference, held June 5-9 in Whistler, British Columbia.
Over the past year, Segarra and biology students at HPU constructed mutant strains of baker’s yeast to observe and better understand autophagy, a process cells use to recycle nutrients and destroy damaged components that compromise their health. When this process is defective in humans, it can lead to conditions such as heart, liver or neurodegenerative disease.
“Baker’s yeast is a simple organism that functions similarly to human cells,” says Segarra. “It can help us study what can go wrong with autophagy and how we might be able to fix it. Information we learn from our study can be used to better understand the process in more complex cells like human cells. For this reason, our lab carries out basic research that ultimately can be used to better understand human diseases.”
By sharing this research at the conference, Segarra and other experts provided information to clinicians and pharmaceutical companies that could inform the development of new drugs and treatments.
“Honors like this raise awareness of the important, ongoing research efforts of faculty and students at HPU,” says Segarra. “Conferences like this also provide the latest developments that can be shared with students. Passing on this information is very important – my lab at HPU is not only the home base for experiments, but it’s also the place where my undergraduate research students are developing their scientific identities and niches.”