Peter Finan

TL;DR: The results indicate that large, annotated cell-line collections may help to enable preclinical stratification schemata for anticancer agents and the generation of genetic predictions of drug response in the preclinical setting and their incorporation into cancer clinical trial design could speed the emergence of ‘personalized’ therapeutic regimens.

TL;DR: This study uses a chemical genetic screen to identify a small molecule, XAV939, which selectively inhibits β-catenin-mediated transcription and reveals new mechanistic insights into the regulation of axin protein homeostasis, which presents new avenues for targeted Wnt pathway therapies.

TL;DR: It is shown that cellular uptake of L-glutamine and its subsequent rapid efflux in the presence of essential amino acids (EAA) is the rate-limiting step that activates mTOR.

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that mTORC1 activation is sufficient to stimulate specific metabolic pathways, including glycolysis, the oxidative arm of the pentose phosphate pathway, and de novo lipid biosynthesis, through the activation of a transcriptional program affecting metabolic gene targets of hypoxia-inducible factor and sterol regulatory element-binding protein.

TL;DR: Together, these results provide new insights into resistance mechanisms involving the MAPK pathway and articulate an integrative approach through which high-throughput functional screens may inform the development of novel therapeutic strategies.