Uncovering metabolic vulnerabilities in mammalian disease

Changes to cellular metabolism are a hallmark of diseases like cancer, obesity, diabetes, neurodegeneration, and mitochondrial disease. Identifying these metabolic changes and understanding how they impact disease progression is of utmost importance.  Notably, diseases usually manifest in some tissues while leaving other tissues “healthy.”   In this arm of our research program, we leverage knowledge of the metabolic state of the “healthy” tissues in disease models to uncover critical metabolic adaptions that support tissue health. Furthermore, we utilize this information to develop new strategies to target metabolic vulnerabilities in “diseased” tissues.