Davide Ruggero
Showed that oncogenic mTOR signalling reprograms which mRNAs are translated, and that tumours become addicted to this through the 4E-BP–eIF4E axis. His UCSF lab found that mTOR-driven translation of a specific set of mRNAs promotes prostate cancer invasion and metastasis
Professor of Urology & Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center · PhD, University of Rome La Sapienza
Ruggero Lab, UCSF (San Francisco, California, USA) ↗ Lab lineage1 direct trainee → Bluesky@ruggerolab.bsky.social ↗
Portrait: UCSF Department of Urology
Davide Ruggero's lab was among the first to apply genome-wide ribosome profiling (a method developed by Nicholas Ingolia and Jonathan Weissman) to ask a question upstream of most cancer genomics: not which genes are transcribed, but which mRNAs actually get translated into protein when oncogenic signalling — including mTOR — is switched on.
His 2012 Nature paper with Andrew Hsieh mapped this 'translational landscape' in prostate cancer, identifying a specific set of pro-invasion mRNAs whose translation is selectively boosted by mTOR signalling, and showed that an ATP-competitive mTOR inhibitor could reprogram that signature and limit metastasis in mouse models. Earlier, he had contributed to a study led by Kevan Shokat's lab showing that active-site mTOR inhibitors reveal rapamycin-resistant outputs of both mTORC1 and mTORC2, and his lab had shown that the 4E-BP/eIF4E translation axis is a targetable node downstream of oncogenic mTOR.
The timeline below follows Ruggero's contributions gathered in this Atlas.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | M | Active-site inhibitors of mTOR target rapamycin-resistant outputs of mTORC1 and mTORC2 FEL2009 Shows active-site inhibitors of mTOR target rapamycin-resistant outputs of both mTORC1 and mTORC2. |
| 2010 | M | Genetic dissection of the oncogenic mTOR pathway reveals druggable addiction to translational control via 4EBP-eIF4E HSI2010 Shows genetic dissection of the oncogenic mTOR pathway reveals a druggable addiction to translational control via 4E-BP/eIF4E. |
| 2012 | M | The translational landscape of mTOR signalling steers cancer initiation and metastasis HSI2012 Maps the translational landscape of mTOR signalling in prostate cancer and shows an ATP-competitive mTOR inhibitor reprograms it to limit metastasis. |
| 2013 | A | Autism-related deficits via dysregulated eIF4E-dependent translational control GKO2013 Co-author: shows that mice lacking 4E-BP2, the brake on eIF4E, have autism-like behaviours linked to increased translation of neuroligin mRNAs, reversed by a drug that blocks eIF4E. |
Co-authors in the Atlas 10
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Davide Ruggero.
ShowHide
- Kevan M. Shokat 3 shared studies Co-developed the ATP-competitive 'TORKinib' mTOR inhibitors that block both mTORC1 and mTORC2, and later, with Neal Rosen's lab at Memorial Sloan Kettering, RapaLink-1, a third-generation inhibitor that overcomes mTOR resistance mutations
- Andrew C. Hsieh 2 shared studies Showed, as first author in Davide Ruggero's lab, that oncogenic mTOR drives cancer metastasis by selectively translating a specific pro-invasion mRNA program
- Christos G. Gkogkas Studies how protein synthesis is controlled in the brain; first author of the mouse study linking loss of the translational repressor 4E-BP2, downstream of mTORC1, to autism-like behaviour through increased neuroligin translation.
- Matthew R. Janes Showed, as first author in David Fruman's lab, that a dual TORC1/2 kinase inhibitor kills leukemia cells with much weaker effects on normal lymphocytes than rapamycin
- Morris E. Feldman Chemical biologist who, in the Shokat lab at UCSF, introduced PP242 and the TORKinib class of drugs that block mTOR's active site and reach the outputs rapamycin misses
- Nahum Sonenberg Co-discovered the mRNA cap-binding protein eIF4E and the 4E-BP proteins that restrain it, and showed how mTOR releases this brake to control protein synthesis
- Nicholas T. Ingolia Known for ribosome profiling, a method that reads out which messenger RNAs ribosomes are translating across a whole genome; the study in the Atlas used this approach to map mTOR-controlled translation in prostate cancer.
- Robbie Loewith Showed, as first author in Michael Hall's lab, that yeast TOR exists as two distinct complexes, the basis of the TORC1/TORC2 framework
- Yi Liu Drug-discovery scientist who builds selective kinase inhibitors, including the active-site mTOR inhibitor INK128
- Zachary A. Knight Neuroscientist whose lab studies the brain mechanisms behind appetite, thirst and body-temperature preference; he is a co-author of the 2009 study that introduced the TORKinibs PP242 and PP30.
Every researcher with a profile →
On the programme
Meetings in the Atlas calendar where Davide Ruggero is listed among the speakers or organisers.
- upcoming Fusion: Translational Control – From Cells to Organisms 2027 ↗ 22–25 May 2027 ·
Durrës, Albania · ★★ Add to calendar:
Google ·
Apple / Outlook
All meetings in the calendar →
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.