The rockefeller university

Cell Metabolism as a Target for Cancer Treatment

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SPEAKER

Kivanç Birsoy, Ph.D.

Chapman Perelman Associate Professor
Laboratory of Metabolic Regulation and Genetics
The Rockefeller University

HOST

Richard P. Lifton, M.D., Ph.D.

President and Carson Family Professor
The Rockefeller University

In our battle against cancer, we have several tools at our disposal: surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy. But what if a more refined treatment could target cancer cells without harming healthy tissue? Is there a way to essentially “starve” tumors?

With the simple premise that cancer cells need specific nutrients to survive, Kivanç Birsoy, Ph.D., is using new genetic tools, such as CRISPR gene editing, to learn how tumor cells differ from typical cells in their processing of nutrients. Cancer cells face a hostile environment, but they are remarkably adaptable. They have developed mechanisms to absorb nutrients imported from outside the cell. They can alter their metabolism in response to shifting challenges. Dr. Birsoy is learning which nutrients are essential to particular cancer cell types and how these cells reprogram their metabolic pathways. He is discovering new classes of biological targets that can be exploited to starve cancerous cells while preserving healthy tissue. His work is breathing new life into the established science of metabolism and providing fresh insights into neurodegeneration and other health conditions, in addition to cancer.

Dr. Birsoy received his undergraduate degree in molecular genetics from Bilkent University in Turkey and his Ph.D. from Rockefeller University, where he studied the molecular genetics of obesity in the laboratory of Dr. Jeffrey Friedman. During his postdoc at the Whitehead Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he combined forward genetics and metabolomics approaches to understand how different cancer types rewire their metabolism to adapt to nutrient-deprived environments.

Dr. Birsoy is a recipient of numerous awards, including an NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, March of Dimes Basil O’Connor Scholar Award, Pershing Square Sohn Prize, William Ackman and Neri Oxman Innovation Fund in Neurodegenerative Diseases, and Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science.