Troy Hornberger

Comparative Biosciences

troy.hornberger@wisc.edu

Research Program

My overall research interest is to determine how skeletal muscles sense mechanical information and convert this stimulus into the molecular events that regulate changes in mass. This interest has led me to study a protein kinase called the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). Signaling by mTOR is necessary for mechanically-induced growth of skeletal muscle, and I have recently determined that mechanical stimuli activate mTOR signaling through a unique mechanism involving phospholipase D (PLD) and the lipid second messenger phosphatidic acid (PA) (PLD to PA to mTOR). Based on this observation, research in my lab is now focused on further defining how mechanical stimuli activate the PLD to PA to mTOR pathway and skeletal muscle growth.

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Faculty profile