It has recently been discovered that the lysosome is a lot more intricate and a lot more complex than just a wastebasket. It’s involved in several biochemical pathways that are critical to the cell, ranging from phagocytosis to macroautophagy, chaperone-mediated autophagy, lysosomal exocytosis and plasma membrane repair, lysosomal cell death, cholesterol homeostasis, immunity and exosome release. And within the lysosomes there are hundreds of proteins, enzymes and soluble material that are responsible for all these activities.