Noriko Oshiro-Rapley
In one of several 2007 studies, identified PRAS40 as a raptor-bound mTORC1 substrate that gates access to mTORC1's other substrates
Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School – Xavier lab, MGH/Broad, until her death in January 2026 · Postdoc, Soukas lab, MGH & Broad Institute · Research staff, MGH/Harvard (Joseph Avruch lab) · COE Research Fellow, Kobe University Biosignal Research Center (Kazuyoshi Yonezawa lab), as 大城 紀子
In Yonezawa's lab at Kobe University, where she is listed as 大城 紀子 (Noriko Oshiro), she identified PRAS40 (OSH2007), in parallel with several other groups, as a genuine mTORC1 substrate that competes with S6K1/4E-BP1 for raptor binding.
Career crossed to Boston: Avruch lab (2013, Rag GTPase paper), then Alexander Soukas's lab studying aging in C. elegans (2016 Cell paper on metformin/mTORC1/lifespan), then immunology/IBD in Ramnik Xavier's lab, rising to Instructor in Medicine at Harvard.
Dr. Oshiro-Rapley died in January 2026; at the time she was an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an investigator at the Mass General Research Institute.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | M | Raptor, a binding partner of target of rapamycin (TOR), mediates TOR action HARA2002 Co-author, from Yonezawa's lab, of one of the two 2002 papers that identified raptor. |
| 2003 | M | The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) partner, raptor, binds the mTOR substrates p70 S6 kinase and 4E-BP1 through their TOR signaling (TOS) motif NOJ2003 Raptor binds mTOR substrates via their TOS motifs, acting as the substrate-presenting scaffold of mTORC1. |
| 2007 | M | The proline-rich Akt substrate of 40 kDa (PRAS40) is a physiological substrate of mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 OSH2007 PRAS40 is a raptor-bound, physiological mTORC1 substrate/inhibitor. |
| 2009 | M | Nutrient-dependent mTORC1 association with the ULK1-Atg13-FIP200 complex required for autophagy HOS2009 Showed the DIRECT brake mTORC1 uses on autophagy: when nutrients are plentiful, mTORC1 physically joins the ULK1-Atg13-FIP200 complex (the autophagy-starter kinase) and phosphorylates ULK1 to keep it off. Starvation or rapamycin releases this brake and autophagy begins. |
Co-authors in the Atlas 9
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Noriko Oshiro-Rapley.
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- Joseph Avruch 3 shared studies Showed in 1998 that amino acids, not only insulin, are needed for mTOR to activate S6K1 and 4E-BP1. His Massachusetts General Hospital group, with Kazuyoshi Yonezawa's lab in Kobe, then co-discovered raptor in 2002 and found that Rheb binds mTOR directly
- Kazuyoshi Yonezawa 3 shared studies Led the Kobe University group that co-discovered raptor in 2002, in parallel with the Sabatini lab. His team then showed that raptor binds mTOR's substrates through their TOS motif and that PRAS40 is itself an mTORC1 substrate
- Kenta Hara 3 shared studies Showed in 1998 that amino acids are needed for mTOR to activate S6K1 and 4E-BP1, and as first author co-discovered raptor in 2002
- Chiharu Tokunaga 2 shared studies Member of Kazuyoshi Yonezawa's Kobe team that co-discovered raptor, and first author of a 2004 review on how mTOR combines amino acid and energy signals
- Sujuti Hidayat 2 shared studies Member of Kazuyoshi Yonezawa's Kobe team that co-discovered raptor and worked out how mTOR senses amino acids, and first author of a study showing that a leucine derivative can block amino acid-mTOR signalling
- Hiroki Nojima First author of the 2003 Kobe study showing that raptor grabs mTOR's targets through a short TOS motif, the docking step that lets mTORC1 reach its substrates
- Nao Hosokawa Cell biologist who, in Noboru Mizushima's lab, showed how mTORC1 directly holds the autophagy starter complex in check and helped discover the autophagy protein Atg101
- Noboru Mizushima Built much of the molecular map of autophagy in mammals - the ATG proteins that make an autophagosome, and the signals, including mTORC1, that decide when one is made
- Xiaomeng Long Discovered that Rheb binds directly to the mTOR kinase domain and switches it on
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