Welcome! My name is Will (William) Rosencrans, and I’m a scientist broadly interested in nature across scales. A native of Long Island, NY, I moved to the West Coast for my PhD at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). I’m now a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Richard Youle at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS, NIH).
My work focuses on the biophysics and biochemistry of autophagy and mitochondrial homeostasis, and on using those insights to develop therapeutics for diseases of aging. During my PhD I was advised by Professors Tsui-Fen Chou and David Chan, and by Dr. Richard Youle. I initiated and lead a small-molecule drug discovery initiative at the Center for Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias (CARD). My work has appeared in peer-reviewed publications and in-progress patents.
My current modalities center on small-molecule drugs targeting new biological pathways, but I’m constantly enthralled by other platforms that can leverage and control biological processes to expand therapeutically targetable space. To that end, I’ve spent time running drug discovery campaigns, always thinking about clever ways to speed up this expensive and time-consuming endeavor.
It is in the process of translating basic discoveries into rigorously tested therapeutics that new basic discoveries are often found.
Translational research and drug discovery are often thought of as separate from “basic research.” I see them as a virtuous cycle that expands our knowledge of biology and, in turn, makes concrete improvements in human health. That philosophy compels me to study the basic biology governing autophagy initiation and mitochondrial stress pathways. My work has uncovered novel regulators of the autophagy initiation machinery and mediators of mitochondrial biology, and that interest has grown into two projects I lead now: how cells co-opt the autophagy machinery to shut down the immune sensor STING by delivering it from the Golgi to the lysosome, and rewiring the autophagy machinery with small molecules. More on my Research page.
Before biochemistry, I 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, with a short stint in Singapore investigating the biophysics of chromatin.
Beyond science, I’m into history, writing poetry, cooking, hiking, and tea. More on that in Beyond the Bench.