Research Summary

I am widely recognized for my expertise in autophagy, a tightly regulated cellular self-digestion process, and how this process regulates epithelial cell fate, oncogenic transformation, and carcinoma progression. I am a board-certified pathologist and completed post-doctoral training with Dr. Joan Brugge (Harvard Medical School), where I became known for my studies of oncogene regulation of cell death using three-dimensional (3D) organotypic culture systems. Since becoming faculty at UCSF in 2005, I have focused on the regulation of autophagy in cancer, publishing over 65 papers and invited reviews and receiving multiple extramural grants from the NCI, DOD, and private foundations. My laboratory pursues two broad goals: (1) to delineate the multifaceted roles of autophagy in adhesion independent survival and transformation in vitro, as well as on cancer progression and metastatic disease in vivo; and (2) to dissect the biochemical and in vivo physiological functions of the molecules that control autophagy (called ATGs) to ultimately exploit this process for therapeutic benefit.

Research Funding

  • June 1, 2007 - June 30, 2031 - Autophagy and Pro-metastatic Differentiation , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA126792
  • September 15, 2017 - March 31, 2027 - Endolysosomal defects in secretory autophagy and microglial toxicity in FTD , Co-Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01AG057462
  • December 13, 2017 - November 30, 2023 - Stromal Fibroblast Autophagy In Tumor Progression and Desmoplasia , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA213775
  • September 1, 2014 - August 31, 2020 - Autophagy as a microenvironmental regulator of tumorigenesis and resistance , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA188404
  • June 1, 2016 - November 30, 2018 - Deciphering Autophagy-Dependent Secretion In Cancer Via Proximity-Based Biotinylation , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R21CA201849
  • August 1, 2003 - January 31, 2009 - Oncogenes and Luminal Apoptosis Within Mammary Acini , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: K08CA098419

Education

Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, 1988-1992, Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, Highest Honors
Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, 1992-1998, Doctor of Medicine, magna cum laude
National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, NIH-HHMI Scholar, 1995-1997, Biochemistry
Resident, Anatomic Pathology, Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 1998-2000
Clinical Fellow, Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 2000-2003
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, 2000-2005

Honors & Awards

  • 2006
    Charles Culpeper Scholarship in the Medical Sciences, Partnership For Cures
  • 2006
    AACR Genentech Bio-Oncology Career Development Award
  • 2006
    Howard Hughes Medical Institute Early Career Award For Physician Scientists
  • 2011-2016
    DOD Breast Cancer Research Program Era of Hope Scholar Award
  • 2013
    Elected Member, American Society of Clinical Investigation
  • 2016
    Keith Porter Fellow for Excellence in Cell Biology, American Society for Cell Biology
  • 2019
    Ramzi S. Cotran Visiting Professor, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School
  • 2021
    Outstanding Investigator Award, American Society of Investigative Pathology

Selected Publications

  1. Debnath J, Leidal AM. Membrane ATG8ylation in secretory autophagy. Autophagy. 2026 May 24; 1-16. View on PubMed
  2. Nanni M, Debnath J. Caspase-8 cleavage of p62/SQSTM1 drives TNFR-induced apoptosis. Mol Cell. 2026 Apr 16; 86(8):1419-1421. View on PubMed
  3. Sakai Y, Behrends C, Debnath J, Izumi M, Jenny A, Molinari M, Nakamura S, Oku M, Otegui MS, Santambrogio L, Shen HM, Taguchi T, Thumm M, Ushimaru T, Xie Z, Cuervo AM, Reggiori F. Microautophagy: current understanding of its molecular mechanisms and functions. Autophagy Rep. 2026; 5(1):2626661. View on PubMed
  4. León-Rivera N, Chin B, Quintana A, Bustamante-Eguíguren S, Gacasan A, Nanni M, Debnath J, Monkkonen T. Endothelial Cell Autophagy Suppresses Metastasis In Mouse Mammary and Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumor Models. bioRxiv. 2026 Jan 29. View on PubMed
  5. Smeyers J, Oses-Prieto JA, Yadanar L, Wang M, Iadarola M, Lu S, Wang KS, Watanabe TH, Debnath J, Burlingame AL, Mordes DA. Phospho-proteome profiling in human neurons reveals targets of TBK1 in ALS/FTD-associated autophagy networks. Cell Rep. 2025 Nov 25; 44(11):116494. View on PubMed
  6. Debnath J, Mondal G. Autophagy-dependent proteostasis suppresses breast cancer metastasis. Autophagy. 2025 Dec; 21(12):3428-3429. View on PubMed
  7. Chen RH, Costa-Filho AJ, Debnath J, Galli T, Ge L, Goberdhan D, Guo W, He K, Jacob R, Kang T, Lee MG, Li L, Lolicato F, Lu J, Malhotra V, Nickel W, Nikoletopoulou V, Ogden SK, Sagia GM, Shao F, Shi A, Thery C, Vérollet C, Villeneuve J, Verweij F, Wang Y, Wang J, Wu S, Ye Y, Yin H, Yu L, Zhang M, Zhang Y, Zhou X, Zurzolo C. Beyond the Secretory Pathway: New Insights Into Protein Release. Traffic. 2025 10; 26(10-12):e70022. View on PubMed
  8. Sakai Y, Behrends C, Cuervo AM, Debnath J, Izumi M, Jenny A, Molinari M, Nakamura S, Oku M, Otegui MS, Santambrogio L, Shen HM, Taguchi T, Thumm M, Ushimaru T, Xie Z, Reggiori F. Microautophagy: definition, classification, and the complexity of the underlying mechanisms. Autophagy. 2026 Jan; 22(1):3-9. View on PubMed
  9. Mondal G, Gonzalez H, Marsh T, Leidal AM, Vlahakis A, Phadatare PR, Bustamante Eguiguren S, Bruck M, Naik A, Magbanua MJM, Huppert LA, Wiita AP, Roose JP, Rosenbluth JM, Debnath J. Autophagy-targeted NBR1-p62/SQSTM1 complexes promote breast cancer metastasis by sequestering ITCH. Nat Cell Biol. 2025 Jul; 27(7):1098-1113. View on PubMed
  10. Phadatare P, Debnath J. Lysosomal lipid peroxidation mediates immunogenic cell death. J Clin Invest. 2023 04 17; 133(8). View on PubMed
  11. Debnath J, Gammoh N, Ryan KM. Autophagy and autophagy-related pathways in cancer. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2023 08; 24(8):560-575. View on PubMed
  12. Abeliovich H, Debnath J, Ding WX, Jackson WT, Kim DH, Klionsky DJ, Ktistakis N, Margeta M, Münz C, Petersen M, Sadoshima J, Vergne I. Where is the field of autophagy research heading? Autophagy. 2023 04; 19(4):1049-1054. View on PubMed
  13. Gardner JO, Leidal AM, Nguyen TA, Debnath J. LC3-dependent EV loading and secretion (LDELS) promotes TFRC (transferrin receptor) secretion via extracellular vesicles. Autophagy. 2023 05; 19(5):1551-1561. View on PubMed
  14. Tan A. Nguyen, Jayanta Debnath. Control of Unconventional Secretion By The Autophagy Machinery. Current Opinion in Physiology. 2022 Oct 1; 29:100595. View on PubMed
  15. Debnath J, Leidal AM. Secretory autophagy during lysosome inhibition (SALI). Autophagy. 2022 10; 18(10):2498-2499. View on PubMed
  16. Yang Y, Gomez M, Marsh T, Poillet-Perez L, Sawant A, Chen L, Park NR, Jackson SR, Hu Z, Alon N, Liu C, Debnath J, Guan JL, Davidson S, Verzi M, White E. Autophagy in PDGFRα+ mesenchymal cells is essential for intestinal stem cell survival. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 05 24; 119(21):e2202016119. View on PubMed
  17. Solvik TA, Nguyen TA, Tony Lin YH, Marsh T, Huang EJ, Wiita AP, Debnath J, Leidal AM. Secretory autophagy maintains proteostasis upon lysosome inhibition. J Cell Biol. 2022 06 06; 221(6). View on PubMed
  18. S. Paul, U. Bhunia, J. Debnath, M.K. Dey, A. Bandyopadhyay, S. Som. A beam dynamics study for efficient extraction from the VECC K500 superconducting cyclotron. Journal of Instrumentation. 2022 Mar 1; 17(03):p03029. View on PubMed
  19. Patgiri SJ, Gohain GG, Goswami SK, Bhattacharyya DR, Debnath SHD, Panat L, Karajkhede G, Mohapatra PK, Sarma DK, Bhowmick IP, Gogoi K, Biswas S, Debnath J, Acharjee S, Senapati S, Neog R, Nath P, Meitei K, Baidya S, Debbarma D, Sarma A, Ahmed RA, Boro H, Das RC, Mahanta J, Debbarma SR, Kaur H. Development and On-Field Deployment of a Mobile-Based Application 'MoSQuIT' for Malaria Surveillance in International Border Districts of Northeast India-Challenges and Opportunities. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 02 23; 19(5). View on PubMed
  20. AACR Pathology Task Force. Pathology: Hub and Integrator of Modern, Multidisciplinary [Precision] Oncology. Clin Cancer Res. 2022 01 15; 28(2):265-270. View on PubMed

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