Natalia Twardowska
Profile
Project Title:
Uncovering mechanisms of mTOR inhibition resistance through drug repurposing, interactomics and AI
Project Summary:
The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) is an evolutionarily conserved kinase that acts as a rheostat of energy, regulating cellular processes and decisions including metabolism and ageing. Dysregulation and aberrant activation of mTOR promotes age-related diseases and tumour metastasis and is a key driver of drug resistance. Some of the mTOR inhibitors have been developed. Due to the fundamental roles of mTOR within all eukaryotes, resistance to mTOR inhibition itself is a major problem. Nevertheless, the mechanisms involved in uncoupling cellular growth from mTOR activity are still poorly defined. Such knowledge is critical to decidedly address the issue of resistance to mTOR inhibition in ageing and disease.
Using systems machine learning, systems biology approaches, available multi-omics resources, the main aims of the project are to infer ageing/disease gene regulatory networks in human neurons and identify hub nodes in this network. Finally, experimentally validate targets by using single or combinatorial inhibitor treatments
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