Student: Chung-Han (Joe) Lee
Mentor: Kun-Liang Guan
Department of Biological Chemistry and Life Sciences Institute
The mTor pathway integrates nutrient and growth factor signaling in order to control growth and proliferation. It was previously determined in the Guan lab that cells demonstrating constitutive activation of the mTOR pathway, as seen by loss of the tumor suppressors TSC1 or TSC2, are more sensitive to apoptosis when subjected to different cellular stresses. TSC1 and TSC2 act as negative regulators of mTOR. TSC1 -/- cells undergo apoptosis much earlier than TSC1 +/+ cells under glucose starvation, and the apoptosis of TSC1-/- cells can be prevented with the addition of rapamycin, a pharmacologic inhibitor of mTOR. The goal of Joe Leešs project is to clarify the mechanism by which constitutive activation of mTOR leads to increased apoptosis under glucose starvation.
