As a side note to the previous conversation, The 2016 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine was awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi for his groundbreaking discoveries underlying autophagy.

Ohsumi's discoveries led to a new paradigm in our understanding of how the cell recycles its content. His discoveries opened the path to understanding the fundamental importance of autophagy in many physiological processes, such as in the adaptation to starvation or response to infection. Mutations in autophagy genes can cause disease, and the autophagic process is involved in several conditions including cancer and neurological disease.

The 216 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine - Press Release