Roberto Zoncu
Revealed how the lysosome senses amino acids and cholesterol
Born in Sardinia, Italy · neuroscience, University of Pisa · PhD, Yale · postdoc with David Sabatini · Professor, UC Berkeley (Molecular & Cell Biology)
Zoncu Lab, UC Berkeley ↗ Bluesky@robzonculab.bsky.social ↗
Portrait: UC Berkeley Dept. of Molecular & Cell Biology
Roberto Zoncu grew up in Sardinia in a family of physicians and studied neuroscience at the University of Pisa before crossing the Atlantic for a PhD in cell biology at Yale. He then joined David Sabatini's lab at the Whitehead Institute as a postdoc, turning his skill in live-cell imaging on a question nobody had answered: how does mTORC1 actually 'know' that amino acids are present inside the cell?
Zoncu helped show that mTORC1 is recruited to the surface of the lysosome — the cell's recycling organelle — by the Ragulator–Rag docking complex, and that amino acids inside the lysosome are read out from the inside by the v-ATPase proton pump, an 'inside-out' sensing mechanism. Since starting his own lab at UC Berkeley in 2014, he has extended this picture to cholesterol sensing and to how faulty lysosomal mTORC1 signalling contributes to neurodegenerative disease.
The timeline below traces Zoncu's studies gathered in this Atlas.
Milestones in the Atlas
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | M | Ragulator-Rag complex targets mTORC1 to the lysosomal surface and is necessary for its activation by amino acids SAN2010 Co-discovers that the Ragulator-Rag complex docks mTORC1 onto the lysosomal surface — the physical site where nutrient sensing happens. |
| 2010 | R | mTOR: from growth signal integration to cancer, diabetes and ageing ZON2010 Authoritative review of mTOR from growth-signal integration to disease. |
| 2011 | M | mTORC1 senses lysosomal amino acids through an inside-out mechanism that requires the vacuolar H(+)-ATPase ZON2011 Shows mTORC1 reads amino-acid levels from inside the lysosome via the v-ATPase, an 'inside-out' sensing mechanism. |
| 2018 | M | A nutrient-induced affinity switch controls mTORC1 activation by its Rag GTPase-Ragulator lysosomal scaffold LAW2018 A nutrient-induced affinity switch in the Rag-Ragulator scaffold controls mTORC1 lysosomal recruitment. |
| 2019 | M | Structural mechanism of a Rag GTPase activation checkpoint by the lysosomal folliculin complex LAW2019 Solves the structural mechanism of a Rag GTPase activation checkpoint involving the lysosomal folliculin complex. |
| 2023 | R | The molecular basis of nutrient sensing and signalling by mTORC1 in metabolism regulation and disease GOU2023 Authoritative review of the molecular basis of nutrient sensing and signalling by mTORC1 in disease. |
On the programme
Meetings in the Atlas calendar where Roberto Zoncu is listed among the speakers or organisers.
- upcoming Keystone Symposia: Autophagy in Health and Disease — From Mechanisms to Therapeutics 2027 ↗ 8–11 Feb 2027 · Banff, AB, Canada · Tier 2
- upcoming 13th CFATG Scientific Days on Autophagy (Paris) 2026 ↗ 12–14 Oct 2026 · Paris, France · Tier 2
- upcoming EMBO Workshop: Autophagy — Foundations, Functions and Physiology 2026 ↗ 6–11 Sep 2026 · Grenå, Denmark · Tier 2