Kathryn G. Foster

Current position: Graduate student at the department of cell and developmental biology at the University of Michigan Medical School

Education: M.S. in cell and developmental biology in 2006 from the University of Michigan Medical School

Nonscientific interests: Traveling, reading, cooking, and spending time with friends and family

I became interested in signal transduction after taking my first graduate cell biology course. After learning about the mammalian target of tapamycin (mTOR) and its unique role as a regulator of both cell size and cell cycle progression, I became interested in further elucidating the role of this protein and its signaling complexes in the cell. In 2005, I joined Diane Fingar's lab and initiated a project to study the role that protein phosphorylation plays in regulating the mTOR complex.

Read Foster's article on page 14071.

Diane C. Fingar

Education: Assistant professor in the department of cell and developmental biology at the University of Michigan Medical School

Education: Ph.D. in cell and developmental biology in 1995 from Harvard Medical School

Nonscientific interests: Tennis; jogging; sailing; camping; stinky soft cheese and good wine; goofing around with kids and spouse

I became fascinated by signal transduction as a junior graduate student when I realized that virtually nothing was known about how insulin promotes the rapid translocation of glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) –containing vesicles from an intracellular storage site to the plasma membrane. As a more senior graduate student, I was surprised to learn how little was known regarding links between growth factor regulated signaling, the cell cycle machinery, and cellular proliferation. The prevalence of diabetes and cancer in today's society underscore the importance of elucidating the molecular mechanisms controlling signal transduction and how such regulation impacts cellular and organismal physiology. As a post doc and now as PI of my own lab, I have studied the regulation and function of mTOR, the mammalian target of rapamycin, as this kinase functions as an environmental sensor that links signaling to critical cellular processes.

Read Fingar's article on page 14071.