91AV

Current research

The focus of Dr. Garcia’s research is to understand how two degradation mechanisms to help cells survive stress: RNA degradation and autophagy. Dr. Garcia's lab uses molecular genetics, genomics and cell biology to understand how the components of these pathways function in the simple eukaryotic model organism yeast. Though our research is in yeast, each process we study has also been implicated in the molecular dysfunctions associated with human Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and neurogenetic disorders such as RNAse T2-deficient leukoencephalopathy. Dr. Garcia’s research hopes to provide new insights to inform clinically relevant research about neurodegenerative and neurogenetic disorders.