Zhicheng Cui
Structural biologist who solved cryo-EM structures of the mTORC1–TFEB–Rag–Ragulator megacomplex and of mTORC1 switched on by RHEB and the Rags on a lipid membrane.
Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado Anschutz (lab from June 2026) · postdoc, Hurley lab, University of California, Berkeley (affiliation on the 2023 and 2025 papers) · PhD, Texas A&M University · BSc, Jilin University
Portrait: Cui Lab, University of Colorado Anschutz
As first author he solved the structure of TFEB presented to mTORC1 by two Rag–Ragulator complexes, which explains why TFEB phosphorylation depends so strictly on RagC and FLCN (CUI2023). He then rebuilt mTORC1 activation on liposomes and showed by cryo-EM that Raptor and mTOR touch the membrane directly and that full kinase activity needs four steps of membrane engagement (CUI2025).
Both papers come from James Hurley's lab at UC Berkeley, with cell work from Andrea Ballabio's group at TIGEM. In June 2026 he started his own lab at the University of Colorado Anschutz, studying signalling on membrane surfaces: lysosomal mTORC1 control, small GTPases such as RAS, and membrane remodelling.
Milestones in the Atlas
A selection, not a full bibliography: only papers that meet the Atlas inclusion criteria.
| Year | Evidence | Study |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | M | Structure of the lysosomal mTORC1-TFEB-Rag-Ragulator megacomplex CUI2023 First author: cryo-EM structure of the lysosomal mTORC1–TFEB–Rag–Ragulator megacomplex. |
| 2025 | M | Structural basis for mTORC1 activation on the lysosomal membrane CUI2025 First author: membrane-reconstituted cryo-EM shows Raptor and mTOR contact the lysosomal membrane in a four-step activation process. |
Co-authors in the Atlas
People with a profile here who share at least one study with Zhicheng Cui.
- Alessandra Esposito 2 shared studies Lysosomal signalling and TFEB regulation
- Andrea Ballabio 2 shared studies Discovered that the transcription factor TFEB is a master switch for building lysosomes and for autophagy. His lab was one of the groups that showed in 2012 that mTORC1 keeps TFEB out of the nucleus from the lysosome surface, and later (2020) that constitutive TFEB activation drives the kidney disease of Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome
- Gennaro Napolitano 2 shared studies mTORC1-TFEB lysosomal signalling
- James H. Hurley 2 shared studies Structural biologist who uses cryo-EM to show how protein machines assembled on membranes control autophagy and nutrient signalling. His lab solved structures of the Rag–Ragulator complex and of the whole mTORC1–TFEB–Rag–Ragulator assembly on the lysosome
- Jlenia Monfregola TIGEM postdoc and co-author on the cryo-EM structure of the mTORC1–TFEB–Rag–Ragulator megacomplex and on the TBK1/ULK1 lysosomal stress route to TFEB.
- Lukas A. Huber Cell biologist who studied the p14-MP1 scaffold on late endosomes, a complex later recognised as part of Ragulator (LAMTOR), the lysosomal platform that holds mTORC1 in place
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