Craig B. Thompson
Cancer biologist whose lab studies how growth signals control the uptake and use of nutrients; senior author of the study that described an AMPK- and p53-dependent glucose checkpoint in the cell cycle
Benno C. Schmidt Chair of Cancer Research, Memorial Sloan Kettering · President & CEO of MSK (2010–2022) · University of Pennsylvania, Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute (from 1999) · University of Chicago (from 1993) · University of Michigan & HHMI (from 1987) · MD, University of Pennsylvania (1977)
Thompson Lab, Cancer Biology & Genetics Program, Sloan Kettering Institute, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (New York, New York, USA) ↗ Lab lineage2 direct trainees →
Craig Thompson is the senior author of JON2005, done in his lab at the University of Pennsylvania with Russell Jones as first author. The study described a checkpoint at the G1/S boundary that stops dividing cells when glucose runs short. The arrest was run by AMPK and needed AMPK to phosphorylate p53 on serine 15. It happened even though amino acids were present and mTOR stayed active, so in these cultured cells the glucose checkpoint worked alongside mTOR rather than through it.
Thompson trained as a physician (MD, University of Pennsylvania, 1977) and held faculty posts at the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago before returning to Penn in 1999 as scientific director of the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute. His earlier work covered T-cell costimulation through CD28 and the Bcl-2 family protein Bcl-xL; his later work moved to cancer metabolism. He led Memorial Sloan Kettering as president and CEO from 2010 to September 2022 and still runs a lab in the Cancer Biology & Genetics Program of the Sloan Kettering Institute.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | M | AMP-activated protein kinase induces a p53-dependent metabolic checkpoint JON2005 Senior author: AMPK induces a p53-dependent cell-cycle arrest when glucose is low, even while mTOR stays active. |
Co-authors in the Atlas
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Craig B. Thompson.
- Russell G. Jones Studies how nutrient and energy sensing by AMPK and mTOR shapes cell metabolism, especially in T cells and cancer. As a postdoc with Craig Thompson he showed that AMPK triggers a p53-dependent glucose checkpoint in the cell cycle
Every researcher with a profile →
On the programme
Meetings in the Atlas calendar where Craig B. Thompson is listed among the speakers or organisers.
- past Keystone: Tumor Metabolism – New Frontiers in Diet, Microbiome and Beyond 2026 ↗ 8–11 Jun 2026 · Killarney, Ireland · ★★
All meetings in the calendar →
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