Agnes Roczniak-Ferguson
Cell biologist in Shawn Ferguson's lab at Yale who showed that mTORC1 phosphorylates the transcription factor TFEB to control lysosome and autophagy genes, and who studies lysosome biology in neurodegenerative disease
Department of Cell Biology and Program in Cellular Neuroscience, Neurodegeneration and Repair, Yale University School of Medicine (2012–2026) · Department of Cancer Biology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Albert Reynolds lab (2003–2004)
Portrait: Yale School of Medicine
Agnes Roczniak-Ferguson is first author of the Atlas study ROC2012 from Shawn Ferguson's lab at Yale. TFEB is a transcription factor, a protein that turns on a set of genes, in this case the genes that build lysosomes and run autophagy, the cell's self-recycling process. The study showed that mTORC1, the growth-control complex, phosphorylates TFEB on the lysosome surface. This keeps TFEB from switching on its target genes. When mTORC1 is switched off, for example by starvation, TFEB becomes active and lysosome and autophagy genes are turned on.
The result tied the same nutrient signal that drives growth to the building of the cell's recycling system: when food is plentiful mTORC1 holds TFEB back, and when it is scarce the cell can build more lysosomes. It was done in cultured human cells.
Earlier, at Vanderbilt University, Roczniak-Ferguson studied p120-catenin, a protein that controls cell-cell adhesion, with Albert Reynolds (2003, 2004). At Yale Roczniak-Ferguson has stayed with lysosome biology in the Ferguson lab: C9orf72, the gene most often mutated in ALS and frontotemporal dementia, binds SMCR8 and affects mTORC1 responses to amino acids (2016); loss of TDP-43 disturbs many organelles (2019); and the Parkinson's disease kinase LRRK2 is switched on at damaged lysosomes through the STING, CASM and GABARAP pathway (2025) and through the chloride transporter ClC-7 (2026).
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | M | The transcription factor TFEB links mTORC1 signaling to transcriptional control of lysosome homeostasis ROC2012 First author: showed in human cells that mTORC1 phosphorylates TFEB to control the transcription of lysosome and autophagy genes. |
Co-authors in the Atlas 1
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Agnes Roczniak-Ferguson.
ShowHide
- Shawn M. Ferguson Showed that mTORC1 phosphorylates TFEB to keep the lysosome-building program switched off, and that folliculin is required at the lysosome for amino acids to recruit and activate mTORC1
Every researcher with a profile →
Thank you. That helps us know which pages have been read by someone who knows the work.
Thank you. We will check it and correct the page.
Thank you. Your answer was counted anonymously.