Welcome! My name is Will (William) Rosencrans, and I am a scientist broadly interested in nature across scales. Native of Long Island, NY, I moved to the West Coast to pursue my PhD at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). My current focus is on the biophysics and biochemistry of autophagy and mitochondrial homeostasis. Using these insights, I work on development of therapeutics targeting these processes in the disease of aging. I am currently a post-doctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Richard Youle, at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS,NIH) Prior to this, I was a PhD student at Caltech advised by Professors Tsui-Fen Chou and David Chan, and by Dr. Richard Youle. I initiated and currently lead the Center for Alzheimer’s and Related Dementia’s (CARD) AutoTAC initiative. My work has been published in multiple peer-reviewed publications, in-progress patents, and even some minor features. My current modalities center around small-molecule drugs targeting new biological pathways. I am constantly enthralled by the possibilities of other platforms that can leverage and control biological processes to expand therapeutically targetable space.
To this end, I have spent time carrying out drug discovery campaigns and always thinking about clever ways to optimize and hasten this expensive and time-consuming endeavor. Translational research and drug discovery are often thought of as separate domains from “basic research.” It is in the process of translating basic discoveries to rigorously tested therapeutics that basic discoveries can often be found. This virtuous cycle expands our knowledge of biology and in turn makes concrete improvements in human health. This philosophy compels me to study the basic biology governing autophagy initiation and mitochondrial stress pathways. My work has discovered novel regulators of the autophagy initiation machinery and mediators of mitochondrial biology. I have recently become interested in the interplay between these pathways and the innate immune system.
Prior to entering biochemistry, I had studied physics at Colgate University, where I tried my hand at pure optics research. Moving into biology I worked on transcriptional control of mitochondrial homeostasis and mitophagy. I also had a short stint in Singapore, investigating the biophysics of chromatin.
Beyond science, I am particularly interested in history, especially of those periods and places I know previously little about. I enjoy cooking dishes from around the world, hiking, and drinking tea!