Impact
Ana Maria Cuervo studies how cells degrade and recycle proteins through lysosomes, and how failure of these autophagy pathways contributes to ageing and age-related disease. Her laboratory at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, founded in 2001, is best known for work on chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA), a selective lysosomal pathway. Key findings include impaired degradation of mutant alpha-synuclein by CMA (Science, 2004), evidence that restoring CMA in aged mouse liver improves cellular maintenance and organ function (Nature Medicine, 2008), and the discovery that autophagy regulates lipid metabolism (Nature, 2009). Her group has linked defective autophagy to Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and Huntington's disease and to metabolic disorders, and has developed chemical modulators and reporters of CMA. She is Distinguished Professor of Developmental and Molecular Biology and of Medicine, holds the Robert and Renée Belfer Chair for the Study of Neurodegenerative Diseases, and co-directs Einstein's Institute for Geroscience. She is co-editor-in-chief of Aging Cell, has served on NIH advisory bodies including the NIA Board of Scientific Counselors, and is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Metrics
- h-index 149 · google scholar as of 2026-09-23 source ↗
Research output
426 works · 91,374 citations · h-index 136 OpenAlex ↗
Selected publications
- Autophagy fights disease through cellular self-digestion ↗ 2008 · 6,513 citations
- Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (3rd edition) ↗ 2016 · 6,021 citations
- Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy ↗ 2012 · 4,063 citations
- Autophagy regulates lipid metabolism ↗ 2009 · 4,038 citations
- Geroscience: Linking Aging to Chronic Disease ↗ 2014 · 2,844 citations
Research funding
38 NIH awards · USD 32M total NIH RePORTER ↗
- Autophagy in aging: testing geroscience in Alzheimer's disease National Institute on Aging · 2020 · USD 3M
- Autophagy in aging: testing geroscience in Alzheimer's disease National Institute on Aging · 2024 · USD 3M
- Autophagy in aging: testing geroscience in Alzheimer's disease National Institute on Aging · 2023 · USD 3M
- Autophagy in aging: testing geroscience in Alzheimer's disease National Institute on Aging · 2022 · USD 3M
- Autophagy in aging: testing geroscience in Alzheimer's disease National Institute on Aging · 2021 · USD 3M