Summary of Talk
In this talk Dr Pende will introduce the control of growth and metabolism by mTORC1/S6 kinases and mTORC2/Akt kinases. His team has been interested in how signals from nutrient availability are transduced by the S6K and Akt AGC kinases in the cell to impact growth and ageing responses, including cell size, cell proliferation, senescence, protein synthesis and metabolism (Pende et al., Nature, 2000; Ohanna et al., Nature Cell Biol., 2005; Aguilar et al, Cell Metabolism 2007; Barilari et al., EMBO J., 2017). He will present recent data on the metabolic control of cellular senescence by using combined metabolomics and transcriptomics approaches. His team reveals a homeostatic switch in lipid metabolism with potent effects on the initiation of the senescence program (Tighanimine et al., Nature Metabolism, 2024). Finally, he will move to rare genetic diseases and address why aberrant mTOR activity leads to alterations in neuronal excitability and epileptogenesis by phosphoproteomics analysis of Tuberous Sclerosis mouse brain.