TOR, the Target of Rapamycin was discovered a little over ten years ago in a genetic screen in S. cerevisiae in search of mutants resistant to the cytostatic effects of the antimycotic, rapamycin. Recent studies have placed TOR at the interface between nutrient sensing and the regulation of major anbolic and catabolic responses. The editors have gathered the leading figures in the field of TOR and its role in cellular homeostasis and human diseases.

Imagine a chilly morning on Cold Mountain's slope in China. A naked couple in lusty embrace thrash beside a steaming spring. One is a breathless male in midlife, nearly exhausted with effort. His partner, a young female, gasps and moans in the throws of orgasm. From the mouth of a cave, overlooking the spring, a gray poet looks on, dreamily amused-his pen stiffly aroused above a sheet of parchment. Behind him are the pages he jotted down in the early light before the couple wandered into his awareness. This is Gray House By Cold Mountain, George Thomas's first (but let us hope not his last)...

TOR, the Target of Rapamycin was discovered a little over ten years ago in a genetic screen in S. cerevisiae in search of mutants resistant to the cytostatic effects of the antimycotic, rapamycin. Recent studies have placed TOR at the interface between nutrient sensing and the regulation of major anbolic and catabolic responses. The editors have gathered the leading figures in the field of TOR and its role in cellular homeostasis and human diseases.