James Hurley obtained his PhD in biophysics from the University of California (UC), San Francisco. After 21 years in the NIH intramural program, he joined UC Berkeley in 2013. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He is interested in mechanisms of endolysosomal sorting and autophagy, and the dysfunction of these processes in neurodegeneration. The techniques in his lab range from cryo-EM and cryo-ET to studies of membrane-shaping processes and biochemical assay creation. He is a world leader in the biochemistry and structural biology of autophagy and endolysosomal biology. Dr. Hurley leverages his lab's tools for the discovery of small molecules to modulate autophagic and lysosomal pathways for therapeutics. He co-founded the autophagy-directed small molecule-based pharmaceutical company Casma Therapeutics. He is the lead PI for one of the Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s teams, which is focused on the basic science of Parkin and PINK1-dependent mitophagy.