All researchers, A–Z

Every one of the 254 researchers with a profile in Oliver's mTOR Atlas, listed A to Z by surname, with what each of them contributed to the mTOR field. The grid on Researchers shows the people with three or more studies here; this list leaves nobody out.

A B C D E F G H C I J K L M N O P R S T V W X Y Z

A

Robert T. Abraham 2 studies Co-discovered the mammalian target of rapamycin in 1995, giving it the name mTOR, and showed that it directly phosphorylates the translation repressor 4E-BP1 (PHAS-I)
Monther Abu-Remaileh 1 study Worked out how to isolate lysosomes fast enough to measure what is inside them, and found that mTOR controls what gets out
John G. Albeck 1 study Measures mTORC1, AMPK and other metabolic signals in single living cells, following how they change over minutes and hours
Dario R. Alessi 2 studies Co-discovered PDK1, the master kinase that switches on Akt and related AGC kinases, and showed that mTORC2 activates the kinase SGK1
Eunus S. Ali 3 studies Showed as a Ben-Sahra-lab postdoc that ERK2 directly activates the purine-synthesis enzyme PFAS, and that mTORC1 increases bicarbonate import through SLC4A7 to fuel nucleotide synthesis. His Kentucky lab studies how growth signals control nucleotide metabolism in cancer
Siraj M. Ali 4 studies Worked in the Sabatini lab on the papers that discovered raptor, mLST8 and rictor, and on the finding that the rictor-mTOR complex phosphorylates Akt. He later moved into cancer genomics and clinical diagnostics
Ghada Alsaleh 1 study Senior author studying autophagy and immune-cell ageing; identified a genoprotective mechanism for rapamycin
Ioannis P. Androulakis 1 study Models how circadian rhythm and nutrient-sensing pathways like mTORC1 stay synchronized
Sebastian I. Arriola Apelo 1 study Showed that giving rapamycin intermittently rather than daily lessens its effects on glucose metabolism and the immune system in mice
Esperanza Arias-Perez 1 study Showed that mTORC2, working with PHLPP1 and Akt at the lysosome, regulates chaperone-mediated autophagy
Joseph Avruch 3 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

B

Jonathan M. Backer 2 studies Showed that the class III PI 3-kinase hVps34, best known for its role in autophagy, is regulated by nutrients and is needed for amino acids to activate S6 kinase through mTOR, in parallel with George Thomas's group
Andrea Ballabio 6 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
Laure Bally-Cuif 1 study Studies how adult neural stem cells in the zebrafish brain move between dormancy and activation
Liron Bar-Peled 4 studies Showed as a Sabatini-lab graduate student that Ragulator switches the Rag GTPases on, acting as their GEF. He also discovered GATOR1 and GATOR2; GATOR1 switches the Rags off and its genes are mutated in some cancers
Andrzej Bartke 1 study Endocrinologist who showed that Ames dwarf mice, which lack growth hormone because of a single-gene mutation, live much longer than normal mice
Helen S. Bateup 1 study Senior/corresponding author of a 2026 Nature study showing mTORC1 hyperactivity drives cell-autonomous astrocyte reactivity in tuberous sclerosis
Issam Ben-Sahra 5 studies Showed as a postdoc in Brendan Manning's lab that mTORC1 drives both pyrimidine and purine synthesis, through two different mechanisms. His Northwestern lab has extended this to bicarbonate import, SAM synthesis and ERK control of purine production
Darlene E. Berryman 2 studies Showed that growth hormone reshapes fat tissue in a depot-specific way that links body composition to metabolic aging
Charles Betz 2 studies Traced mTORC2 to a specific address inside the cell — the mitochondria-ER contact site
John J. Bissler 2 studies Led the first clinical trial showing that the mTOR inhibitor sirolimus shrinks kidney angiomyolipomas in tuberous sclerosis, and the EXIST-2 trial of everolimus for the same tumours
Alessandro Bitto 1 study Showed that a short, three-month course of rapamycin in middle-aged mice can extend lifespan and improve healthspan
Mikhail V. Blagosklonny 2 studies Proposed the hyperfunction theory of ageing: TOR signalling that builds a young body never fully switches off, and drives its ageing instead
John Blenis 8 studies Showed early on that rapamycin blocks S6 kinase, then worked out how mTORC1 drives cell growth through its two main translation targets, S6K1 and 4E-BP1. His lab also found, in parallel with the Sabatini lab, that mTORC1 phosphorylates Grb10, a feedback brake on insulin signalling
Natalia Bobok 1 study Physician-scientist and founder of a Swiss longevity/skincare company; author of a 2026 review situating mTOR as an integrative signaling hub across the hallmarks of aging
Sue C. Bodine 2 studies Showed that turning on the Akt-mTOR pathway is enough, by itself, to make skeletal muscle grow and to stop it from wasting away
Nathalie Bouquier 1 study Built AIMTOR, a glowing biosensor that lets researchers watch mTOR activity move around inside a living cell in real time
Holly M. Brown-Borg 1 study Physiologist who measures how reduced growth-hormone signalling changes lifespan and what keeps long-lived mutant mice healthy
Anne Brunet 1 study Showed that Akt directly phosphorylates and controls FOXO, the transcription-factor switch linking insulin/IGF-1 signaling to lifespan
Andrei V. Budanov 2 studies Helped identify the Sestrins as stress-induced proteins and was among the groups that showed they inhibit mTORC1 through the GATOR complex, a brake that protects against age-related disease
Sabrina Büttner 2 studies Studies how organelles communicate inside cells and how that communication breaks down with age, and contributed to the Graz studies showing that spermidine extends lifespan by inducing autophagy
Maya P. Byfield 2 studies Showed as first author that the lipid kinase hVps34 is regulated by nutrients and is needed for amino acids to activate S6 kinase through mTOR, in parallel with a study from George Thomas's group

C

Lewis C. Cantley 4 studies Co-discovered PI3K, the pathway that feeds into mTOR from growth factors
Steven D. Cappell 1 study Studies how single cells commit to dividing; showed that mTOR briefly switches off the APC/C to give cells a pulse of glycolysis at cell cycle entry
Didac Carmona-Gutierrez 2 studies Studies how cell death and autophagy shape ageing at the University of Graz, and contributed to the studies showing that spermidine extends lifespan through autophagy
James A. Carson 1 study Muscle physiologist studying cancer-associated cachexia and how chemotherapy and exercise remodel skeletal-muscle metabolism
Kendall J. Condon 2 studies Ran genome-wide CRISPR screens revealing how mitochondrial stress signals to mTORC1
Ana Maria Cuervo 1 study Worked out much of the machinery of chaperone-mediated autophagy, a pathway first described in Fred Dice's laboratory, and showed it declines with age

D

Jayanta Debnath 1 study Physician-scientist who studies how autophagy - the cell's self-digestion system - keeps epithelial tissue healthy and how tumours hijack it
Greg M. Delgoffe 2 studies Showed as a graduate student in Jonathan Powell's lab that T cells lacking mTOR become regulatory rather than effector T cells, and that mTORC1 and mTORC2 steer different helper-T-cell fates
Constantinos Demetriades 2 studies Showed as a postdoc in Aurelio Teleman's lab that starvation and other stresses pull TSC2 to the lysosome to switch mTORC1 off. His group, at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing in Cologne from 2017 and at ERIBA in Groningen since 2025, studies how cells sense nutrients and stress through mTORC1 and how this changes with age
Christian C. Dibble 3 studies Identified TBC1D7 as the third subunit of the TSC complex that controls mTORC1, as a Manning-lab graduate student. His lab at Beth Israel Deaconess studies how PI3K signalling and nutrient supply are integrated to control mTORC1 and cell metabolism

E

Alejo Efeyan 2 studies Showed that the Rag GTPases, which relay amino-acid signals to mTORC1, are a life-or-death switch for newborn mice surviving the fast before their first feeding
Daniel F. Egan 2 studies Showed as first author that AMPK directly phosphorylates ULK1, linking low cellular energy to autophagy and mitophagy, and contributed to the finding that AMPK brakes mTORC1 by phosphorylating raptor
Dan Ehninger 2 studies Showed that rapamycin reverses learning deficits in adult mice carrying a tuberous sclerosis mutation, and later tested carefully whether rapamycin's lifespan effect reflects a true slowing of ageing
Tobias Eisenberg 2 studies Showed as first author that the dietary polyamine spermidine extends lifespan by inducing autophagy, and later that it protects the heart in an autophagy-dependent way
Hediye Erdjument-Bromage 4 studies Ran the mass-spectrometry analyses in Paul Tempst's lab at Memorial Sloan Kettering that identified the unknown proteins in the raptor, mLST8 and rictor purifications, and contributed the same approach to work on how ERK inactivates TSC2

F

Shawn M. Ferguson 2 studies Showed that mTORC1 phosphorylates TFEB to keep the lysosome-building program switched off, and that folliculin is required at the lysosome for amino acids to recruit and activate mTORC1
David N. Franz 2 studies Led the EXIST-1 trial showing that the mTOR inhibitor everolimus shrinks the brain tumours (SEGAs) of tuberous sclerosis, and helped run the first sirolimus trial for its kidney tumours
Michael D. Frost 2 studies Co-investigator on the EXIST-1 and EXIST-2 trials showing that the mTOR inhibitor everolimus shrinks tuberous sclerosis tumours in the brain and kidney

G

Veronica Galvan 2 studies Led mouse studies showing that rapamycin prevents Alzheimer's-like memory loss and amyloid build-up, and improves learning in normally ageing mice
Ian G. Ganley 1 study Showed, in one of three 2009 studies (alongside the Mizushima and Kim laboratories), that the ULK1–ATG13–FIP200 complex relays mTOR signalling to start autophagy, and studies how cells select damaged mitochondria for destruction
Juan M. García-Martínez 2 studies Discovered mTORC2 activates SGK1 and co-developed Ku-0063794, one of the first selective ATP-competitive mTOR inhibitors
Miriam Ginzberg 1 study Helped build a way to read a signal's history from still images of fixed cells, then used it to catch mTORC1's fingerprint on Akt
Brian C. Grabiner 2 studies Catalogued cancer-associated MTOR mutations and showed that many of them hyperactivate the kinase and can predict sensitivity to rapamycin; he also contributed to the discovery of GATOR1
Nathanael S. Gray 3 studies Medicinal chemist whose lab designed Torin1, an ATP-competitive mTOR inhibitor that blocks functions of mTORC1 that rapamycin misses. His lab is also known for covalent kinase inhibitors and targeted protein degraders
Kun-Liang Guan 10 studies Showed how growth-factor and energy signals reach mTORC1 through TSC2 and Rheb, and, in parallel with the Sabatini lab, that the Rag GTPases carry the amino-acid signal. His lab also found that AMPK and mTORC1 control autophagy by phosphorylating the kinase ULK1 at different sites
David A. Guertin 4 studies Built the mouse genetics that defined mTORC2's biological roles
Yakir Guri 2 studies Showed mTORC2 drives liver cancer by rewiring lipid and sphingolipid synthesis
J. Silvio Gutkind 2 studies Showed that persistent mTOR activation exhausts epidermal stem cells and accelerates skin ageing, and targets PI3K–mTOR signalling in head-and-neck cancer, including to make tumours respond to immunotherapy
Steven P. Gygi 2 studies Mass-spectrometry scientist whose Harvard lab builds large-scale proteomics methods, including the BioPlex human protein-interaction map, and contributed proteomics to the discoveries of the CASTOR and SAMTOR nutrient sensors

H

Michael N. Hall 15 studies Discovered TOR in yeast in 1991 and established it as a central controller of cell growth that responds to nutrients. His lab later showed that TOR works in two distinct complexes, TORC1 and TORC2, only one of which is blocked by rapamycin
Jessica L. Halle 1 study Muscle-biology researcher studying how cancer, chemotherapy and cachexia disrupt skeletal-muscle protein turnover and autophagy
Malene Hansen 1 study Showed in worms, alongside a 2007 report from Beth Levine's laboratory, that autophagy is required for dietary restriction to extend lifespan
Kenta Hara 2 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
Girish Harinath 1 study Designs, analyses and writes up human studies of repurposed drugs such as rapamycin at a longevity telehealth company, turning trial and real-world prescription data into peer-reviewed evidence
J. Wade Harper 2 studies Co-discovered the F-box motif that links substrates to SCF ubiquitin ligases, and co-leads with Steven Gygi the BioPlex protein-interaction map, which contributed to the discoveries of the CASTOR and SAMTOR nutrient sensors
David E. Harrison 6 studies Led the Jackson Laboratory site of the NIA Interventions Testing Program. His 2009 Nature paper showed that rapamycin extends the lifespan of genetically diverse mice even when feeding starts at 20 months of age, which the authors described as the first pharmacological extension of lifespan in both sexes of a mammal
Jiaxiong He 1 study Contributing co-author in Songlin Li's aquaculture-nutrition team studying mTOR/SREBP1-driven lipogenesis in fish.
Jiayun He 1 study Contributing co-author in Lei Luo's team studying redox-driven mTOR-eIF4A translational control.
Linling He 1 study Researcher in the Fudan team studying amino-acid sensing and stress resilience in T cells
Long He 1 study Research faculty member in John Blenis's lab at Weill Cornell who studies how mTORC1 controls cell metabolism, and first author of the lab's 2025 review of mTORC1 as a conductor of metabolism and growth
Sen Hong 1 study First-authored the cryo-EM structure identifying TM6SF1 as a lysosomal cholesterol-binding protein involved in regulating mTORC1 signalling
Shohei Hori 1 study Senior author; laboratory head studying regulatory T cell differentiation and immune tolerance
Gerta Hoxhaj 2 studies Studies how growth signalling through PI3K, AKT and mTOR rewires cell metabolism; as a Manning-lab postdoc she co-authored work on how metformin inhibits mTORC1 in the liver
Andrew C. Hsieh 2 studies Showed, as first author in Davide Ruggero's lab, that oncogenic mTOR drives cancer metastasis by selectively translating a specific pro-invasion mRNA program
Peggy P. Hsu 2 studies Identified, in parallel with Yonghao Yu's group, Grb10 as an mTORC1 substrate that feeds back to dampen insulin and growth-factor signalling, and now studies the earliest steps of lung cancer as a physician-scientist
Yufeng Hu 2 studies First author of a 2026 Circulation study identifying LAPTM4A as a novel mTORC1 activator driving pathological cardiac hypertrophy
Haojie Huang 1 study Senior/corresponding author of a 2026 Nature Communications study identifying the SPOP–ZMYND8–NEK7 mechanism of mTOR-inhibitor resistance in kidney cancer
James H. Hurley 3 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
Stacy A. Hussong 1 study Studies how mTOR damages the brain's blood vessels, and how blocking it restores blood flow, the blood-brain barrier and memory in aging and Alzheimer's models

C

Lynne Chantranupong 5 studies Showed as a Sabatini-lab graduate student that the Sestrins act through GATOR2 to regulate amino-acid signalling to mTORC1. She then discovered the CASTOR proteins, the cell's arginine sensors for the pathway
Chong Chen 2 studies Showed that blood stem cells need TSC to keep mTOR in check in order to stay dormant and self-renew, and that rapamycin restores the function of aged blood stem cells in mice
Sheng Chen 1 study Orthopaedic researcher who contributed to a study showing that the plant compound corilagin protects joint cartilage by calming inflammation and restoring autophagy
Shiwen Chen 1 study Aquaculture physiologist studying why the largemouth bass, a carnivorous fish, tolerates dietary carbohydrate so poorly
Wanying Chen 1 study Member of a Wenzhou wound-healing and adipose-stem-cell research group who contributed to a study of FGF21-modified exosomes that promote wound healing through AMPK–mTOR
Wei Chen 1 study Showed that IGF2BP3-mediated m6A modification of OLR1 mRNA helps colorectal cancer evade CD8+ T cells through the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway
Hongbo Chi 2 studies Showed that regulatory T cells need mTORC1 signalling to fuel their suppressive function, and studies how mTOR-driven metabolism steers T-cell fate

I

Ken Inoki 4 studies Showed as a postdoc in Kun-Liang Guan's lab that Akt switches off TSC2, that TSC2 is the off-switch (GAP) for the small GTPase Rheb, and that AMPK and GSK3 feed energy and Wnt signals into the same brake. His Michigan lab studies mTOR signalling in metabolism and kidney disease

J

Estela Jacinto 3 studies Co-discovered mammalian mTORC2 as a postdoc in Michael Hall's lab, showing that it controls the actin cytoskeleton and is insensitive to rapamycin. Her Rutgers lab, with Bing Su's group, was among those that found SIN1 holds mTORC2 together and studies how both mTOR complexes control metabolism
Matthew R. Janes 2 studies Showed, as first author in David Fruman's lab, that a dual TORC1/2 kinase inhibitor kills leukemia cells with much weaker effects on normal lymphocytes than rapamycin
Jian Jiang 1 study Co-developed FPTT, fluorescent 'ticker tapes' that record several signalling pathways in living cells over days, including an mTOR recorder that tracked mTOR activity oscillating through the cell cycle
Jiaqiang Jiang 1 study Member of the Nanfang Hospital gastric-cancer surgery team that traced how a tumor-enriched gut bacterium rewires CD8+ T cells through an mTOR-linked checkpoint to blunt anti-PD-1 therapy.
Jay N. Joshi 1 study Showed mTORC1 activity itself rises and falls across the cell cycle, not just in response to nutrients

K

Matt Kaeberlein 4 studies Extended TOR/aging research from yeast to mice to pet dogs
Ran Kafri 1 study Studies how mTORC1 sets and enforces a target size for cells
Nada Y. Kalaany 1 study Studies how a tumour's metabolism depends on the metabolic state of the whole body, and hunts for nutrient dependencies that can be turned into treatments
Yoshiaki Kamada 1 study Showed as first author that TOR keeps autophagy switched off in yeast by controlling the Atg1 (Apg1) kinase complex, and has studied TOR's control of autophagy ever since
Seong A. Kang 3 studies Contributed to the Sabatini-lab studies that identified PRAS40 and DEPTOR, two of the cell's own mTOR inhibitors, and to the first characterisation of the mTOR inhibitor Torin1
Pankaj Kapahi 2 studies Showed that reducing TOR signalling extends fruit-fly lifespan, and that the translation repressor 4E-BP is needed for dietary restriction to extend it
Loren Kell 1 study First author identifying a direct genoprotective effect of rapamycin against DNA damage in ageing human immune cells
Brian K. Kennedy 2 studies Showed with Matt Kaeberlein that reducing TOR or Sch9 signalling extends yeast lifespan in the same way as dietary restriction, and has since championed mTOR as a target for slowing human ageing
Cynthia Kenyon 1 study Showed in 1993 that a single-gene change doubles the lifespan of the worm C. elegans, which opened the study of nutrient-sensing pathways as ageing pathways
Do-Hyung Kim 5 studies Co-discovered raptor, the defining partner of mTOR in mTORC1, and then mLST8 (GbetaL) as a Sabatini-lab postdoc. His Minnesota lab identified PRAS40 as an insulin-regulated link to mTORC1 and studies how mTORC1 controls autophagy
Eunjoon Kim 1 study Neuroscientist who directs the IBS Center for Synaptic Brain Dysfunctions and studies synaptic scaffold proteins linked to autism; he contributed to work linking neuronal ERBB4 and mTOR signalling to Alzheimer's pathology
Eunjung Kim 1 study Showed as first author, in Kun-Liang Guan's lab, that the Rag GTPases relay amino-acid availability to TORC1, in parallel with the Sabatini lab's discovery
Joungmok Kim 2 studies Showed as a Guan-lab postdoc that AMPK and mTORC1 control autophagy by phosphorylating ULK1 at different sites, with mTORC1's mark on Ser757 blocking activation by AMPK
Seongbin Kim 1 study Contributed to a 2026 study showing that abnormal ERBB4 in excitatory neurons drives Alzheimer's pathology through mTOR signalling
Sunghoon Kim 1 study Senior author of the 2012 study proposing leucyl-tRNA synthetase as an intracellular leucine sensor for mTORC1, part of his broader work on the signalling roles of tRNA synthetases
Tomohide Kinoshita 1 study First author identifying how TCR-driven mTORC1 signaling epigenetically locks in Foxp3 expression in regulatory T cells
Roman V. Kondratov 2 studies Showed the circadian clock protein BMAL1 gates TOR/mTOR signaling to control aging, and that calorie restriction's lifespan benefits require a working circadian clock
John J. Kopchick 2 studies Discovered the growth hormone receptor antagonist that became the acromegaly drug pegvisomant (Somavert), and studies how blocking growth hormone signalling extends lifespan in mice
Viktor I. Korolchuk 5 studies Showed that where lysosomes sit inside the cell tunes mTORC1 activity to nutrient supply. His Newcastle lab found that senescent cells can no longer switch mTORC1 off when nutrients or growth factors are withdrawn, and studies how autophagy and mitophagy decline with age
Nicholas T. Ktistakis 1 study Uses live imaging to follow the first minutes of autophagy and of mTORC1 activation
Hiroyuki Kubota 2 studies Systems biologist who showed that the insulin pathway carries different messages in the timing of its signal, and that S6K, the mTORC1 target, reads only the fast part
Mondira Kundu 1 study Physician-scientist who works out what the autophagy-initiating kinases ULK1 and ULK2 actually do when a cell runs short of fuel
Shinya Kuroda 2 studies Leads a systems biology lab that studies how cells decode the timing of hormone signals, with insulin and mTORC1-S6K as the main test case

L

Dudley W. Lamming 6 studies Showed as a postdoc that rapamycin's harm to glucose metabolism comes largely from its effect on mTORC2, while the lifespan benefit tracks mTORC1. His Wisconsin lab studies intermittent rapamycin dosing and how restricting dietary protein or single amino acids affects metabolism and ageing
Mathieu Laplante 2 studies Co-wrote with David Sabatini one of the field's most cited reviews of mTOR in growth and disease, and his Laval lab studies how mTORC1 and DEPTOR control fat tissue and metabolism
Robert R. Latek 3 studies Bioinformatics scientist at the Whitehead Institute who worked on the Sabatini-lab papers that described raptor, mLST8 (GbetaL) and rictor (raptor and rictor were reported in parallel by other labs), the core partners of mTOR in its two complexes
Rosalie E. Lawrence 2 studies Working in Roberto Zoncu's lab, uncovered the nutrient-driven affinity switch and the FLCN checkpoint that gate mTORC1 activation at the lysosome
Hongliang Li 1 study Vice President of Gannan Medical University and Executive Director of its State Key Laboratory of New Targets Discovery and Drug Development for Major Diseases; researcher of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases
Mei Li 1 study Scientist at the Pediatrics Research Institute of Children's Hospital of Soochow University studying brain injury, who contributed to a study of how PIP4K2A protects the brain after stroke
Meijie Li 1 study Dartmouth researcher, working with the Luikart and Hong labs, studying how PTEN controls the neuronal microtubule cytoskeleton through mTORC2 rather than mTORC1
Thomas L. Li 1 study Co-first author of a 2026 Nature study showing mTORC1 hyperactivity drives reactive astrocytes as a primary, seizure-independent consequence of TSC2 loss, implicating glial dysfunction as a driver of tuberous sclerosis pathology
Xiaochun Li 1 study Solves cryo-EM structures of cholesterol-sensing membrane proteins, including the new mTORC1 regulator TM6SF1
Jiqin Lian 1 study Biochemist studying deubiquitinase signalling in autophagy and metabolic disease
Edward O. List 2 studies Carries out mouse studies, in John Kopchick's group, on how disrupting growth hormone receptor signaling extends mammalian lifespan
Grace Y. Liu 2 studies Wrote with David Sabatini a major 2020 review of mTOR in nutrition, growth and ageing, and in the Sabatini lab studied how mTORC1 senses nutrients such as serine
Qianqian Liu 1 study Biostatistician on one of the first randomised pilot trials of rapamycin's safety in older adults
Qingsong Liu 1 study Medicinal chemist in Nathanael Gray's lab who helped discover Torin1, an ATP-competitive mTOR inhibitor, and later built an independent kinase-inhibitor drug-discovery program in China
Yi Liu 1 study Drug-discovery scientist who builds selective kinase inhibitors, including the active-site mTOR inhibitor INK128
Yu Liu 1 study Cancer biologist working on how tumour-suppressor loss and epigenetic state decide whether a cell stays differentiated
Robbie Loewith 2 studies Showed, as first author in Michael Hall's lab, that yeast TOR exists as two distinct complexes, the basis of the TORC1/TORC2 framework
Xiaomeng Long 2 studies Discovered that Rheb binds directly to the mTOR kinase domain and switches it on
Iúri Drumond Louro 1 study Professor of human and molecular genetics
Lingjun Lu 1 study Built a computational model treating mTORC1 as a rhythm set by meal timing, not a fixed level

M

Maria Elena Maccari 1 study Senior author studying primary immunodeficiencies and their treatment
Frank Madeo 2 studies Established spermidine as a dietary compound that extends lifespan in yeast, worms, flies and mice, and showed that the effect depends on autophagy
Christoph Magnes 2 studies Analytical chemist at Joanneum Research whose group contributed the mass-spectrometry measurements of polyamines in the Graz spermidine studies
Timm Maier 2 studies Solved some of the first cryo-EM structures of human mTORC1 (with Nenad Ban's group) and mTORC2, including a high-resolution map of mTORC2
Joan B. Mannick 3 studies Ran early clinical trials of low-dose mTOR inhibitors in older adults, which improved their response to flu vaccination and, in a phase 2a trial, their rate of self-reported infections; a larger phase 3 trial of RTB101 (2021) did not confirm a reduction in respiratory illness. She led this work first at Novartis and then at resTORbio
Brendan D. Manning 10 studies Was among the groups that in 2002 identified TSC2 as a direct target of Akt, linking insulin and PI3K signalling to mTORC1, and later found TBC1D7 as the third subunit of the TSC complex. His lab has shown how mTORC1 turns growth signals into the synthesis of lipids and nucleotides
Luca Marchetti 1 study Computational biologist building quantitative systems-pharmacology and disease models; senior author on a 2026 survival analysis of the RAP-ALS rapamycin trial
Andrew L. Markhard 2 studies Contributed, as a Sabatini-lab researcher, to the discovery that Ragulator docks mTORC1 on the lysosome, and now studies metabolite signals that tell the body it has eaten
Sue Menon 1 study Showed insulin controls mTORC1 by moving the TSC complex on and off the lysosome
Andreas Milias-Argeitis 1 study Follows TORC1 activity through the cell cycle in single yeast cells and builds light-controlled tools to perturb it
Richard A. Miller 6 studies Leads the University of Michigan site of the NIA Interventions Testing Program. His papers showed that rapamycin extends mouse lifespan when started in middle age, and that the size of the benefit depends on dose and differs between males and females
Noboru Mizushima 1 study 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
Mauricio Moel 1 study Analyses trial and real-world data on repurposed longevity drugs at AgelessRx and led the reporting of the PEARL rapamycin trial
Tarek Moustafa 1 study Researcher in hepatic metabolism and bile acid signaling

N

Masako Narita 1 study Discovered, as first author, the TASCC, a compartment in senescent cells where mTOR and autophagy work side by side to fuel the secretion of inflammatory proteins
Masashi Narita 1 study Studies what senescent cells do to the tissue around them, and showed that mTOR position, not just mTOR activity, sets their secretory output
Frauke Neff 2 studies First author of the study that separated what rapamycin does to lifespan from what it does to ageing itself
Takahiro Nobukuni 1 study Showed as first author that amino acids activate mTOR through the lipid kinase hVps34, by a route separate from insulin signalling through TSC, in parallel with a study from Jonathan Backer's laboratory
Lyvia Neves Rebello Alves Nolasco 1 study Postdoctoral researcher in human molecular genetics

O

Brendan P. O'Hara 3 studies As lab manager of Issam Ben-Sahra's lab at Northwestern, contributed to its studies of how mTORC1 and ERK control nucleotide synthesis, SAM production and bicarbonate import
Yoshinori Ohsumi 1 study Found the genes that make autophagy work, and with them the link from TOR to the autophagy machinery
Vincent Ollendorff 1 study Co-led the Montpellier team that built AIMTOR, a light-emitting biosensor for watching mTOR activity inside living cells, as part of his work on muscle metabolism
Noriko Oshiro-Rapley 2 studies In one of several 2007 studies, identified PRAS40 as a raptor-bound mTORC1 substrate that gates access to mTORC1's other substrates

P

Pier Paolo Pandolfi 2 studies Showed that ERK directly phosphorylates and inactivates TSC2, wiring Ras/MAPK signalling into mTORC1 control, and that blocking mTORC1 in patients' tumours triggers a feedback rise in MAPK signalling
Jack M. Parent 1 study Neurologist and stem-cell researcher who rebuilds human epilepsies in patient-derived neurons to find what goes wrong
Linda Partridge 2 studies Showed that rapamycin extends fruit-fly lifespan through TORC1, via autophagy and reduced protein synthesis, and that it adds benefit even on top of dietary restriction
Nikola P. Pavletich 2 studies Solved the crystal structure of the mTOR kinase, revealing the FRB domain as a gatekeeper of its active site, and later showed how RHEB switches mTORC1 on and PRAS40 blocks it
Julie Perroy 1 study Neurobiologist who co-led AIMTOR, a biosensor for watching mTOR activity live in single cells and in separate parts of the cell
Timothy R. Peterson 3 studies Discovered DEPTOR, an inhibitor that binds mTOR in both complexes and is overexpressed in some multiple myelomas. He also showed that mTORC1 controls fat synthesis by regulating where the enzyme lipin 1 sits in the cell, and through it the SREBP pathway
Natalia Podlutskaya 2 studies Contributed, at the Barshop Institute in San Antonio, to mouse studies showing that rapamycin prevents Alzheimer's-like memory loss and improves cognition in normal ageing
Jonathan D. Powell 3 studies Showed that T cells lacking mTOR become regulatory T cells instead of effector cells, and that mTORC1 and mTORC2 each steer a different type of helper T cell

R

Simon Raffel 1 study Studies metabolic vulnerabilities of leukemia stem cells; senior author on a 2026 Blood paper on IDH3, citrate and mTORC1 in AML stem cell drug resistance
Elena Rainero 1 study Studies how cancer cells use the extracellular matrix as a nutrient and signaling source; senior author on a 2026 study linking collagen I to mTORC1 activation in cancer cells
Arlan Richardson 3 studies Studies how rapamycin slows ageing in mice, including the broad changes it causes in the liver, and co-authored early studies showing that rapamycin protects memory in Alzheimer's-model mice
Beatrice Rivalta 1 study First author of a multicenter registry analysis comparing rapamycin and leniolisib in a rare immune disorder
Vanessa S. Rodrik-Outmezguine 2 studies Showed that tumours reactivate AKT after mTOR kinase inhibition, and that the third-generation inhibitor RapaLink-1 overcomes mTOR resistance mutations
Kacper B. Rogala 2 studies Solved the near-atomic cryo-EM structure that shows how mTORC1 physically docks at the lysosome by reading the Rag GTPases
Neal Rosen 2 studies Showed that blocking mTORC1 releases a feedback brake on receptor tyrosine kinases and AKT, explaining how tumours escape mTOR and PI3K inhibitors and shaping how these drugs are combined in the clinic
David C. Rubinsztein 2 studies Showed that rapamycin induces autophagy to clear the toxic protein of Huntington's disease, and that where lysosomes sit inside a cell helps set mTORC1 activity
Christoph Ruckenstuhl 2 studies Yeast geneticist who works out how amino-acid restriction and vacuole acidity set lifespan
Davide Ruggero 3 studies Showed that oncogenic mTOR signalling reprograms which mRNAs are translated, and that tumours become addicted to this through the 4E-BP–eIF4E axis. His UCSF lab found that mTOR-driven translation of a specific set of mRNAs promotes prostate cancer invasion and metastasis

S

David M. Sabatini 46 studies Identified mTOR (as RAFT1) in 1994, in parallel with Stuart Schreiber's group and others. His lab then mapped much of the machinery around it, several parts in parallel with other labs: raptor and rictor at the core of mTORC1 and mTORC2, the Rag–Ragulator system that docks mTORC1 on the lysosome, and the sensors that detect leucine, arginine and SAM
Junichi Sadoshima 2 studies Studies how mTOR, autophagy and mitophagy protect the heart under stress and in ageing, and contributed to the finding that spermidine protects the heart
Umakant Sahu 2 studies Showed that the building blocks of RNA also tell mitochondria how fast to burn fuel
Yasemin Sancak 5 studies Showed as a Sabatini-lab graduate student, in parallel with Kun-Liang Guan's lab, that the Rag GTPases relay amino-acid signals to mTORC1, and that Ragulator anchors them to the lysosome where mTORC1 is switched on. She also identified PRAS40 as an insulin-regulated inhibitor of mTORC1
Dos D. Sarbassov 5 studies Discovered rictor as a Sabatini-lab postdoc, in parallel with Michael Hall's lab, defining mTOR Complex 2, and showed that this complex is the long-sought kinase that phosphorylates Akt on serine 473. He also found that prolonged rapamycin treatment can block mTORC2 assembly
Robert A. Saxton 6 studies Solved, as a Sabatini-lab graduate student, the structures of the leucine sensor Sestrin2 and the arginine sensor CASTOR1, showing how each one grips its amino acid. He also co-wrote a widely cited 2017 review of mTOR signalling with David Sabatini
David T. Scadden 1 study Stem cell and leukaemia biologist whose lab imaged mTORC1 activity in live mice and showed that well-timed mTORC1 inhibition kills more leukaemia cells
Sonia M. Scaria 2 studies Contributed, as an MIT undergraduate in the Sabatini lab, to the discovery of CASTOR1 as the arginine sensor and SAMTOR as the SAM sensor of the mTORC1 pathway
Shomit Sengupta 2 studies Showed that mTORC1 controls whether the liver makes ketone bodies during fasting, and now leads biology for drug discovery at a metabolic-disease biotech
Carmine Settembre 2 studies Showed, as first author in Andrea Ballabio's lab, that TFEB drives autophagy as well as lysosome production, and, in parallel with other groups, that mTORC1 phosphorylates TFEB at the lysosome to keep this program switched off when nutrients are plentiful
Reuben J. Shaw 4 studies Showed, in parallel with two other groups, that the tumour suppressor LKB1 directly activates AMPK, and that AMPK brakes mTORC1 by phosphorylating raptor. His Salk lab also linked AMPK to autophagy through ULK1 and helped explain how metformin acts in the liver
Kuang Shen 3 studies Solved, as a Sabatini-lab postdoc, cryo-EM structures of GATOR1 and of the FLCN–FNIP2–Rag–Ragulator complex, two switches that set mTORC1 activity. His UMass Chan lab studies the structural basis of nutrient sensing
Kevan M. Shokat 2 studies Co-developed the ATP-competitive 'TORKinib' mTOR inhibitors that block both mTORC1 and mTORC2, and later, with Neal Rosen's lab at Memorial Sloan Kettering, RapaLink-1, a third-generation inhibitor that overcomes mTOR resistance mutations
Stuart L. Schreiber 2 studies Co-discovered mTOR in 1994 (his group called it FRAP) as the mammalian target of the FKBP12–rapamycin complex, and helped found chemical biology as a field
Sabrina Schroeder 2 studies Researcher in Frank Madeo's group at Graz who has contributed to the spermidine studies from the first yeast longevity experiments to work in mice
Mandeep Singh 1 study Interventional cardiologist and professor of medicine at Mayo Clinic; corresponding author on a 2026 trial of low-dose rapamycin in frail older adults with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF)
Nahum Sonenberg 2 studies Co-discovered the mRNA cap-binding protein eIF4E and the 4E-BP proteins that restrain it, and showed how mTOR releases this brake to control protein synthesis
Randy Strong 6 studies Leads the San Antonio site of the NIA Interventions Testing Program, which tests each compound in parallel at three sites under one shared protocol. He first-authored the program's reports on resveratrol and other supplements (2012) and on rapamycin combined with acarbose (2022)
Liangbo Sun 1 study Researcher studying phosphorylation-based control of autophagy initiation and its role in metabolic liver disease
Xiaoge Sun 1 study Senior author of a 2026 study showing that the recurrent PIK3CA-E545K mutation drives cervical cancer growth and invasion through AKT/mTOR signalling
Xiaojie Sun 1 study Contributed to a 2026 toxicology study linking early-life exposure to microplastics and the plasticiser DEHP to autism-relevant brain changes through impaired mTOR-regulated autophagy

T

Andrew R. Tee 1 study First author of one of several 2003 papers showing that the TSC1–TSC2 complex acts as a GTPase-activating protein for Rheb
Aurelio A. Teleman 2 studies Uses fruit-fly genetics and human cells to study how growth signalling through TOR controls cell and body size. His lab showed that starvation and other stresses move TSC2 to the lysosome to switch mTORC1 off
Paul Tempst 4 studies Developed mass-spectrometry methods for identifying proteins from tiny samples, and led the Memorial Sloan Kettering proteomics laboratory that identified the unknown partners of mTOR in the raptor, mLST8 and rictor purifications
George Thomas 3 studies Purified and cloned S6K1, the kinase that became the classic readout of mTORC1 activity. His lab later showed that mice lacking S6K1 resist diet-induced obesity, and that amino acids signal to mTORC1 through the lipid kinase hVps34
Carson C. Thoreen 5 studies Used Torin1, one of the first ATP-competitive mTOR inhibitors, to reveal functions of mTORC1 that rapamycin cannot block. He then showed that mTORC1 controls translation of mRNAs for the protein-making machinery mainly through the 4E-BP proteins
Andrew M. Tidball 1 study Stem-cell neuroscientist who builds human neuron and organoid models to find the genes behind brain malformations

V

Alexander J. Valvezan 3 studies Showed as a Manning-lab postdoc that mTORC1 matches nucleotide production to demand, creating a weak point that can be targeted in tumours with TSC loss. His Rutgers lab found that mTORC1 activity rises and falls through the cell cycle and helps drive entry into mitosis
Nikkhil Velingkaar 1 study Postdoctoral fellow studying how the circadian clock times caloric restriction's effects on liver mTOR signaling and metabolism
Benoit Viollet 2 studies Showed that metformin still lowers liver glucose production without AMPK or LKB1, pointing instead to a drop in cellular energy charge

W

Jie Wang 1 study Corresponding author of a 2026 JACS paper identifying PKM2 as a direct methionine-sensing protein that signals into mTORC1 via GATOR2.
Jing Wang 1 study Showed as first author that the CORVET/HOPS trafficking machinery is needed for T cells to sense amino acids and activate mTORC1
Ruizhao Wang 1 study Built FPTT, fluorescent 'ticker tapes' that record several signalling pathways in living cells over days, and used its mTOR version to follow mTOR activity oscillating through the cell cycle
Ruoning Wang 1 study Showed as first author, in Douglas Green's lab, that the transcription factor Myc drives the metabolic switch of activated T cells, and now leads an immunometabolism lab
Shuyu Wang 2 studies Co-discovered SLC38A9 as a Sabatini-lab MD-PhD student, a lysosomal amino-acid transporter that signals arginine sufficiency to mTORC1
Siming Wang 1 study Member of Daqing Zhao's natural-products group who contributed to a study showing that a Chinese yam extract restores mTOR–Beclin-1-regulated autophagy in ageing testis cells
Tim Wang 2 studies Co-developed genome-wide CRISPR screening in human cells (reported in parallel by Feng Zhang's lab) as a graduate student with David Sabatini and Eric Lander, and contributed to studies showing that the 4E-BPs mediate mTORC1's control of translation and that CASTOR1 senses arginine
Yifei Wang 1 study Environmental toxicologist who contributed to a study of how early-life exposure to food-contact microplastics and a common plasticiser disrupts brain development through mTOR signalling
Yunwei Wang 1 study Burn and wound-repair researcher who contributed to a study testing the plant flavonoid dihydromyricetin as an anti-scarring treatment
Thomas Weichhart 1 study Immunologist who showed that mTOR sets the tone of the innate immune response, and now studies how macrophage metabolism drives granulomatous disease
Roger L. Williams 2 studies Solved structures showing how the Rag GTPases bind mTORC1 and how TOR forms a dimer, working at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
Rachel L. Wolfson 4 studies Identified Sestrin2 as the direct leucine sensor of the mTORC1 pathway as a Sabatini-lab MD-PhD student. She also co-discovered KICSTOR, the complex that recruits GATOR1 to the lysosome
Gregory A. Wyant 2 studies Showed that the lysosomal protein SLC38A9 exports leucine and other essential amino acids out of the lysosome, letting cells grow on proteins they have taken up and broken down there

X

Yulian Xiao 1 study Contributed to a study identifying a tRNA fragment (tRF-17-8SPOL52) that drives bortezomib resistance in multiple myeloma by activating autophagy
Yanhui Xu 1 study Structural biologist whose Fudan lab solved a cryo-EM structure of human mTORC2 in 2018, showing how rictor and mSin1 block rapamycin's access to mTOR
Yulang Xu 1 study Paediatric surgeon-researcher who led a multicentre study showing that head-and-neck kaposiform hemangioendothelioma responds especially well to the mTOR inhibitor sirolimus

Y

Haijuan Yang 2 studies Solved, as first author in the Pavletich lab, the crystal structure of the mTOR kinase and the structure of mTORC1 activated by RHEB
Juan Yang 1 study Contributed to a study showing that the Brucella suis vaccine strain S2 drives macrophage polarisation and autophagy through PI3K/Akt/mTOR signalling to survive inside cells
Jun Yang 1 study Contributed to a study showing that pungenin promotes hair growth in mouse models of androgenic alopecia through the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway
Xiaoming Yang 1 study Showed as senior author that the liver-secreted protein hepassocin protects against age-related liver senescence and helps the liver regenerate
Yang Yang 1 study Showed as first author that the liver-secreted protein hepassocin protects against age-related liver senescence and helps the liver regenerate
Kazuyoshi Yonezawa 3 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
Shiting Yu 1 study Natural-products researcher who contributed to a study showing that a Chinese yam (Dioscorea polystachya) extract counters male reproductive ageing through the mTOR–Beclin-1 autophagy axis
Shuai Yu 1 study Neurology researcher who contributed to a study showing that the lipid kinase PIP4K2A protects the brain after ischaemic stroke by relieving a block on autophagy and boosting AKT/mTOR signalling
Xiang Yu 1 study Member of Yanfeng Hu's gastric-cancer lab who contributed to a study showing how a microbiota-linked metabolite, kynurenic acid, drives resistance to PD-1 blockade
Xiaotian Yu 1 study Stroke neurology researcher who contributed to a study of how PIP4K2A limits brain injury after ischaemia and reperfusion through the TRIB3–p62 and AKT–mTOR pathways
Yonghao Yu 1 study Used phosphoproteomics to show that mTORC1 phosphorylates and stabilises Grb10, which then acts as a feedback brake on insulin and IGF-1 signalling

Z

Sajad Zalzala 1 study Family physician who co-founded AgelessRx and, as senior author, co-led PEARL, a year-long randomised trial of low-dose intermittent rapamycin in healthy older adults
Alex Zaufel 1 study Researcher studying bile acid metabolism and mTORC1 signaling in liver disease
Zongzhao Zhai 1 study Senior author of a 2026 Nature study identifying Lsp2 as a rapamycin-resistant mTORC1 effector that extends lifespan in Drosophila when removed
Chen Zhang 1 study Ran the liver-specific Tsc1-knockout mouse study showing that non-canonical mTORC1–TFEB activation drives hepatocyte plasticity and aggressive liver cancer
Chunting Zhang 1 study Contributed to a study showing that the lncRNA LINP1 protects irradiated skin cells from senescence by disrupting the mTOR–p53 interaction
Jin Zhang 1 study Builds fluorescent biosensors that show where and when signalling enzymes are active inside living cells; senior author of TORCAR, an early live-cell reporter of mTORC1
Lei Zhang 1 study Contributed to a 2026 mouse study showing that the plant compound pungenin relieves androgenic alopecia through the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway
Ling Zhang 1 study Contributed to a 2026 toxicology study linking early-life exposure to microplastics and the plasticiser DEHP to autism-relevant brain changes through impaired mTOR-regulated autophagy
Sen Zhang 1 study Contributed to a study showing that largemouth bass have a weak insulin/mTOR/SREBP1 fat-making pathway, so excess dietary carbohydrate is stored as liver glycogen rather than fat
Susu Zhang 1 study Contributed to a study showing that salvianolic acid B improves motor recovery after spinal cord injury in association with AKT/mTOR/HIF-1α activation and blood-vessel growth
Yiwen Zhang 1 study Researcher at Changchun University of Chinese Medicine who contributed to a study showing that a Chinese yam extract counters male reproductive ageing through mTOR–Beclin-1 autophagy
Yukun Zhang 1 study Senior author of a study showing that failing chaperone-mediated autophagy lets midnolin accumulate and degrade TSC2, overactivating mTORC1 and accelerating intervertebral disc degeneration
Jiaqi Zhao 1 study Co-author; chemical biologist who helped build a chemical probe revealing a glycolytic enzyme's secret second job as a methionine sensor for mTORC1.
Joy Zhao 1 study Researcher in Sean Cregan's lab studying how chronic cell-stress signalling through ATF4 suppresses mTOR and kills dopamine neurons in Parkinson's disease models
Pan Zheng 2 studies Showed as senior author that blood stem cells need TSC to keep mTOR in check in order to stay dormant, and that rapamycin restores the function of aged blood stem cells in mice
Jiangyuan Zhou 1 study Member of Yi Ji's pediatric vascular-anomalies and surgical-oncology team; co-author on the sirolimus-for-Kaposiform-hemangioendothelioma study.
Jing Zhou 1 study Researcher in Luis Parada's lab whose work includes the 2009 study showing that rapamycin prevents and reverses brain abnormalities in neural Pten-knockout mice
Xin Zhou 1 study Built TORCAR, an early genetically encoded FRET reporter that lets mTORC1 activity be watched in living cells
Roberto Zoncu 6 studies Showed as a postdoc that mTORC1 senses amino acids from inside the lysosome, through the v-ATPase and Ragulator. His Berkeley lab has since mapped how the Rag GTPases and the folliculin complex switch mTORC1 on, and how lysosomal cholesterol feeds into the same system