Sue Menon
Showed insulin controls mTORC1 by moving the TSC complex on and off the lysosome
PhD, Yale University (2008) · postdoctoral fellow, Manning Lab, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (2008–2013) · now Research Investigator, Novartis
Profile, Manning Lab (Harvard Chan) ↗
As a postdoc in Brendan Manning's lab, Sue Menon showed that insulin triggers the TSC complex to acutely dissociate from the lysosomal surface — where a pool of Rheb and mTORC1 resides — through Akt-mediated phosphorylation of TSC2, physically separating the brake (TSC) from the switch (Rheb) it otherwise keeps off. It gave a spatial explanation for how growth-factor and nutrient signals converge on the same lysosomal on/off switch without simply overriding each other.
Her other work in the Manning lab traced mTORC1's downstream reach into disease biology — including how chronic mTORC1 activation alone is sufficient to cause liver cancer in a mouse model, and how mTORC1 drives lipogenesis through SREBP1c — before she moved into industry research at Novartis.
Milestones in the Atlas
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | M | Spatial control of the TSC complex integrates insulin and nutrient regulation of mTORC1 at the lysosome MEN2014 Shows insulin triggers the TSC complex to dissociate from the lysosome, physically separating it from Rheb and mTORC1 — letting growth-factor and nutrient signals independently control the same switch. |