The reprogramming of energy metabolism is emerging as an important molecular hallmark of cancer cells. Recent discoveries linking specific metabolic alterations to cancer development have strengthened the idea that altered metabolism is more than a side effect of malignant transformation, but may in fact be a functional driver of tumor growth and progression in some cancers. As a result, dysregulated metabolic pathways have become attractive targets for cancer therapeutics. We are applying MFA and cell-wide biochemical profiling to investigate the role of oncogenic proteins in regulating critical metabolic functions of tumor cells, and to identify metabolic pathways that can be inhibited to selectively impede tumor growth.
Funding support: NIH R21, Vanderbilt Discovery Award, Lung Cancer SPORE Pilot Project, NSF PESO Award (Betenbaugh PI), NIH U54 (Quaranta PI)
Graduate students: Taylor Murphy, Casey Duckwall
Key collaborators: Vito Quaranta (Cancer Biology), David Carbone (Medicine), Simon Hayward (Urologic Surgery), Chi Dang (UPenn), Mike Betenbaugh (Johns Hopkins)