# First person – Pratibha Bhadauriya and Akanksha Onkar

## TL;DR

This paper discusses the role of glycogen synthase in autophagy during heat shock in neuronal cells and features interviews with the first authors.

## Contribution

The study identifies glycogen synthase as essential for heat shock-induced autophagy in neuronal cells.

## Key findings

- Glycogen synthase is required for autophagy induction during heat shock in neuronal cells.
- The research contributes to understanding stress-related molecular pathways in neurodegeneration and diabetes.

## Abstract

First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Biology Open, helping researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Pratibha Bhadauriya and Akanksha Onkar are co-first authors on ‘
Glycogen synthase is required for heat shock-mediated autophagy induction in neuronal cells’, published in BiO. Pratibha conducted the research described in this article while a PhD student in Professor S. Ganesh's lab at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India. She is currently a project scientist in the same lab, focusing on understanding the molecular pathway behind stress-related disorders, including neurodegeneration and diabetes, by using cellular and mouse model systems. Akanksha is a postdoctoral research fellow in the lab of Dr Adrian Erlebacher at the University of California, USA, working at the intersection of glycoimmunolgy and pregnancy using mouse models and clinical samples, with an aim to improve maternal health.