Oliver Barton

Creator & Curator — Prague, Czech Republic — Age 15

I am a high school student in Prague with a self-directed research interest in mTOR signaling, longevity biology, and evidence-based science curation. I am building Oliver's mTOR Atlas with help from AI along the way, to create the kind of resource I wished existed when I began reading primary literature on the pathway: one structured database that holds studies, mechanisms, interventions, and honest evidence grades side by side, rather than scattered across dozens of review articles and pathway maps.

My current focus is mTOR regulation under dynamic rather than steady-state conditions. Much of the literature reads mTORC1/mTORC2 activity at a single moment, which can miss how it changes over time in a real cell. I am interested in whether the pattern of activity over time and where in the cell it happens, not just its average level, help decide outcomes like autophagy or growth. See Research focus in About for the frontier questions and studies behind it.

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to the people who have helped me along the way towards understanding mTOR — in no particular order.

• Dr. Hana Dvořáková Co-founder, Experientia Foundation — NMR Laboratory, University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague — for connecting me with the right people
• Dr. Iva Pichová Group leader, Viral and Microbial Proteins — IOCB Prague — for her kindness, and for connecting me with people at IOCB
• Dr. Zuzana Kečkéšová Group leader, Tumor Suppressors — IOCB Prague — for introducing me to her colleagues, and for making my visit to the Prague conference possible
• David M. Sabatini, M.D., Ph.D. Senior group leader, Molecular Analysis of Growth Regulation in Animals — IOCB Prague & IOCB Boston — for his time, for his feedback on my hypothesis, and for encouraging me to dig into the subject
• Edith M. Coiro, MBA, MSA/MA IOCB Boston — for making those introductions possible
• Ondřej Peller David Sabatini Group — IOCB Prague — for showing me around IOCB
• Prof. Alexandra Kolenová, M.D., Ph.D. Head, Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology — Comenius University Faculty of Medicine & National Institute of Children's Diseases, Bratislava — for explaining the subject to me, and for letting me visit her laboratory
• Dr. Kateřina Rohlenová Group leader, Laboratory of Cellular Metabolism — Institute of Biotechnology CAS, BIOCEV, Vestec — for showing me around BIOCEV
• Brendan D. Manning, Ph.D. Professor, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health — for his feedback on Bluesky
• A P My mom and dad