Identification of Nutrient Dependencies of Cancer Cells

Cancer is a highly heterogeneous disease with different tumor types carrying different mutations and often displaying markedly different responses to treatment. There are about 5000 metabolites in the human serum and different cancers likely show different dependences to these metabolites. To study this question systematically, we aim to map the nutrient responses of cancer cells. This work will reveal a plethora of previously unappreciated metabolic liabilities of cancer cells. The next steps will be to identify molecular basis for these dependencies, associate them with genome and gene expression profiles, uncover heretofore-unidentified metabolic programs and determine potential druggable targets.