Jay N. Joshi
Showed mTORC1 activity itself rises and falls across the cell cycle, not just in response to nutrients
BA · PhD candidate, Graduate Program in Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, Rutgers University · Valvezan Lab, Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine (CABM)
Valvezan Lab, Rutgers ↗ Bluesky@jaynjoshi.bsky.social ↗
Portrait: Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, Rutgers
As a PhD student in Alexander Valvezan's lab, Jay Joshi showed that mTORC1 activity does not simply track nutrient and growth-factor availability — it also oscillates across the cell cycle on its own, running lowest during mitosis and G1 and highest during S phase and G2. The oscillation runs through the TSC complex but is independent of the pathway's classical upstream inputs, including Akt and Mek/Erk signalling, and this timing — not just the average activity level — shapes how sensitive a cell is to autophagy induction at different points in the cycle.
The work continues a direct line from Brendan Manning's lab, where Valvezan himself trained alongside Dibble and Menon on the same TSC–mTORC1 axis, now carried forward at Rutgers into the added dimension of cell-cycle timing.
Milestones in the Atlas
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | M | mTORC1 activity oscillates throughout the cell cycle, promoting mitotic entry and differentially influencing autophagy induction JOS2024 Shows mTORC1 activity itself oscillates across the cell cycle — lowest in mitosis/G1, highest in S/G2 — independent of known upstream inputs, and that this timing shapes autophagy sensitivity. |