My research focuses on the role of lysosomes in cellular homeostasis and response to stress. We have developed the expertise and tools to experimentally perturb and evaluate lysosome biology, concomitantly with disease modeling in in vitro and in vivo systems. Our studies in the heart have focused upon the role of lysosome function in cardiac myocyte death, which plays a central role in causing heart failure in response to myocardial infarction and pressure overload hypertrophy. My lab has uncovered evidence for dysregulation of the lysosome machinery as a major contributor to cardiomyocyte loss in myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. Our work has described intermittent fasting as a strategy to stimulate lysosome function in vivo, to protect the myocardium against ischemia-reperfusion injury.