Ashutosh Tiwari
Cancer biologist in Anindya Bagchi's lab who found that a tiny protein made from the circular RNA circPVT1 keeps MYC levels high through mTORC1
Cancer Genome and Epigenetics Program, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, Anindya Bagchi lab (2026) · Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, and Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, Gurgaon, India (2014)
MYC is one of the most important cancer genes, and many tumours carry extra copies of it. Next to MYC on chromosome 8 sits PVT1, a gene long thought to make only non-coding RNA. The 2026 Genes and Development study found that a circular RNA made from PVT1 (circPVT1) actually carries the code for a tiny protein, which the team named Firefox (FFX). Firefox boosts AKT-mTORC1 signalling and cap-dependent translation, the main way cells make proteins, and this keeps MYC protein levels high. When Firefox was removed, MYC levels fell and MYC-amplified tumours grew less in mice carrying human cancer cells (xenografts). It points to an mTORC1-linked weak spot in MYC-driven cancers, shown in cells and mouse models.
Ashutosh Tiwari is first author of this study. The work continues a long collaboration with Anindya Bagchi: Tiwari is also a co-author of the 2014 Nature paper, from Bagchi's group at the University of Minnesota, which showed that cancers with extra MYC copies depend on PVT1. At that time PubMed listed Tiwari at the Masonic Cancer Center in Minneapolis and at the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute in Gurgaon, India.
In 2026, Tiwari was also a co-author of a second Genes and Development paper from the Bagchi lab, on Honeybadger, another micropeptide made from an alternative transcript, which holds back RAS-MAPK signalling. A formal title for Tiwari's current position could not be confirmed.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | M | Firefox, a protein encoded by circular PVT1, is essential for MYC-driven oncogenesis. TIW2026 First author: discovered Firefox, a circPVT1-encoded micropeptide that sustains MYC through AKT-mTORC1 signalling. |
Co-authors in the Atlas 1
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Ashutosh Tiwari.
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- Anindya Bagchi Cancer geneticist and associate professor at Sanford Burnham Prebys who uses chromosome engineering to find cancer genes, known for showing that MYC-amplified cancers depend on the neighbouring gene PVT1
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