This year’s Nobel Essay in Cell has been written by  Ivan Dikic (IBC2) together with Sharon Tooze (Francis Crick Institute, London). Published on time for the Nobel Ceremony on 10th December, the article highlights milestones leading to the discovery of the molecular principles underlying autophagy by Yoshinori Ohsumi, who is this years’ winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology. Dikic and Tooze tell the story of a simple yet insightful yeast genetic screen that revealed what later was recognized to be one of the most powerful quality-control pathways in cells.