Are you a #clinician in training? Do you want to do a #PhD in #cancerresearch? 🧪🔬🦠🧫 Recruitment for the September 2026 start is open now!👨🏾‍🔬👩‍🔬 Check out our website for more information and potential supervisors. www.colcc.ac.uk/clinical-res...

Clinical Research Training Fellowships (CRTF) new

Aimed at clinicians who wish to undertake PhD research training. Applications for the 2027 Clinical Research Training Fellowships is open info package Application system will open soon Clinical ...

colcc.ac.uk

This weeks recommended paper is by Samuel Witus and Michael Rapé +team who show that purine nucleotides stabilise the PPAT–NUDT5 complex to provide feedback control of purine biosynthesis, while thiopurines exploit the same interface with greater potency: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Metabolite glues as a means of purine sensing and chemotherapeutic response - Nature

Purines can act as endogenous molecular glues in human cells by anchoring a rate-limiting enzyme in purine biosynthesis to its inhibitor, and modifying this mechanism could provide a way to improve th...

nature.com

This weeks recommended paper is by Samuel Witus and Michael Rapé +team who show that purine nucleotides stabilise the PPAT–NUDT5 complex to provide feedback control of purine biosynthesis, while thiopurines exploit the same interface with greater potency: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Metabolite glues as a means of purine sensing and chemotherapeutic response - Nature

Purines can act as endogenous molecular glues in human cells by anchoring a rate-limiting enzyme in purine biosynthesis to its inhibitor, and modifying this mechanism could provide a way to improve th...

nature.com

This week's recommended read is by Madeleine Hart and Lucas Sullivan and team who show that SDH inhibition triggers a rebound in aspartate, yet pyrimidine synthesis and proliferation remain blocked because accumulated succinate inhibits ATCase. doi.org/10.1038/s422...

Succinate dehydrogenase loss suppresses pyrimidine biosynthesis via succinate-mediated inhibition of aspartate transcarbamylase - Nature Metabolism

Succinate acts as a competitive inhibitor of mammalian aspartate transcarbamylase (ATCase), leading to impaired pyrimidine biosynthesis and reduced proliferation under SDH inhibition.

doi.org

This week my recommended read is by Ivan Montes, Hesham Sadek and team who show that mitochondria interact with nuclear pores via VDAC1–RANBP2. This contact fuels nuclear energetics, regulates gene expression, and is essential for cell differentiation. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Mitochondria directly interact with the nuclear pore complex - Nature

Mitochondria interact directly with the nuclear pore complex via VDAC1–RANBP2 binding to sustain nuclear ATP levels.

nature.com

This week's paper is from Yuheng Liao and Hui Yang and team: aspartate restriction triggers mtDNA stress and cytosolic mtDNA release, amplifying type I IFN responses via a ZBP1-driven loop to boost the efficacy of STING agonists, chemo, and radiotherapy. www.jci.org/articles/vie...

This week's paper is from Apoorva Uboveja, Katherine Aird and team who show that αKG helps HR-proficient cancer cells repair DNA damage through a carnitine-dependent histone acetylation pathway. Great work! doi.org/10.1038/s415...

αKG-mediated carnitine synthesis drives DNA repair via histone acetylation - Nature

The metabolite αKG promotes carnitine synthesis and increases site-specific histone acetylation, thereby promoting homologous recombination-mediated DNA repair, which has potential implications f...

doi.org

This week's recommended read is by Lennart Hoffmann, Tanja Maritzen and team who show that aldolase links metabolism to cell adhesion, with FBP acting as a signal to boost Rac1 activity to reorganize actin, enhance adhesion, and drive cell protrusion. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Fructose-1,6-bisphosphate couples glycolytic activity to cell adhesion - Nature Cell Biology

Hoffmann et al. show that the glycolytic intermediate fructose-1,6-bisphosphate, which accumulates in the absence of aldolase, regulates focal adhesions by relieving RCC2-mediated Rac1 inhibition.

nature.com

This week's recommended cancer metabolism paper is by Fenfen Ji and Chi Chun Wong and team who show that BCAA metabolism regulates colorectal cancer dissemination through UMP-mediated stabilisation of vimentin. Targeting BCAA metabolism can stop CRC mets. doi.org/10.1016/j.cm...

This week's paper is by Anna Bång-Rudenstam and Mattias Belting and team who show a chondroitin sulfate–rich glycocalyx in glioblastoma blocks lipid uptake, protects from ferroptosis, and drives survival. Targeting this => lipid peroxidation & cell death. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This week my recommended cancer metabolism paper is by Savvas Kourtis, Sara Sdelci and team who show that metabolic enzyme "moonlighting" on chromatin is widespread across various tissues and metabolic pathways in a tissue-specific manner. Great work! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Native chromatome profiling reveals hundreds of metabolic enzymes in the nucleus across tissues - Nature Communications

Here proteomic chromatome analysis shows metabolic enzymes widely localize to chromatin in cancer in a tissue-specific manner. Nuclear enzymes affect DNA damage/repair and transcription, revealing non...

nature.com

This week's recommended paper is by Naiqi Wang and Di Yu and team who show that dietary PUFAs and MUFAs influence T cell lipid composition and resistance to ferroptosis, to regulate immune responses, with implications for vaccines and immunotherapies www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Lipid metabolism drives dietary effects on T cell ferroptosis and immunity - Nature

The susceptibility of mouse and human T cells to ferroptosis is determined by the balance of systemic polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids, highlighting a key role for lipid metabolism and ...

nature.com

This week's paper is by Daqi Li and Xiuxing Wang and team who show that tumour associated macrophages supply glioblastoma stem cells with lactate to promote their proliferation and induce KU70 lactylation to block cGAS-STING signalling and remodel the TME. Great work! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Inhibiting macrophage-derived lactate transport restores cGAS–STING signalling and enhances antitumour immunity in glioblastoma - Nature Cell Biology

Li, Cui, Yang, Lu, Jiang, Zhang and colleagues identify a lactate transport mechanism from tumour-associated macrophages that regulates DNA repair and immune cell infiltration, which could be targeted...

nature.com

This week my recommended cancer metabolism paper is by Azusa Terasaki and Derick Okwan-Duodo and team who report that mitochondrial transfer from immune cells to cancer cells facilitates lymph node metastasis via the cGAS/STING immune evasion pathway. doi.org/10.1016/j.cm...

Today, on #WorldCancerDay, we’re taking you behind the scenes at Queen Mary's Barts Cancer Institute and introducing you to the people who are making progress possible. Follow us to stay up to date with new developments. 🧪 #UnitedByUnique #MedSky #OncoSky @qmul.bsky.social @cancerresearchuk.org

Driving discoveries for tomorrow's cancer care at Barts Cancer Institute

YouTube video by BCIQMUL

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This week's top paper is by Kimberley Huggler and Jason Cantor and team who show that hexokinase (HK) 2-dependence of cancer cells in HPLM is due to the subcellular distribution of HK1, with cytosolic HK supporting the Warburg effect. Great work! www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Hexokinase detachment from mitochondria drives the Warburg effect to support compartmentalized ATP production - Nature Metabolism

Hexokinase detachment from the outer mitochondrial membrane is shown to support aerobic glycolysis in cancer cells. Differential localization of the HK1 isoform to the outer mitochondrial membrane, co...

nature.com

This week's recommended read is by Jian Gu and LIng Lu and team who show that tumour-derived ammonia drives Treg-specific enrichment. Tregs detoxify ammonia via the urea cycle and spermine synthesis, boosting Tregs to drive resistance. Great work! doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...

This week's recommended read is by Amaia Zabala-Letona, Arkaitz Carracedo and team who have shown that polyamines (spermidine & spermine) regulate alternative splicing by binding to splicing factors to prevent the action of upstream kinases. Great work! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Polyamine-dependent metabolic shielding regulates alternative splicing - Nature

Polyamines prevent the action of kinases on acidic phosphorylatable motifs in spliceosomal proteins, thus providing a mechanism for metabolite-mediated regulation of alternative splicing in cells.

nature.com

Happy New Year All! My first recommended read for 2026 is by Yaqui Wang, Thirumala-Devi Kanneganti and team who identify a new lytic cell death pathway, mitoxyperilysis, triggered by the synergy of innate immune activation and metabolic stress. Great work! doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...

So this week's recommended paper is not about cancer metabolism - but a study reporting the effects of space travel on human biology is always a great read! Well done to Jessica Pham, Catrina Jamieson and team! doi.org/10.1016/j.st...

This weeks highly recommended read is by Yaqiu Wang, Thirumala-Devi Kannaganti and colleagues who describe mitoxyperilysis - a distinct form of lytic cell death induced by innate immune signaling and metabolic disruption. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Innate immune and metabolic signals induce mitochondria-dependent membrane lysis via mitoxyperiosis

Wang et al. identify a new lytic cell death pathway, mitoxyperilysis, triggered by the synergy of innate immune activation and metabolic stress. This process is regulated by mTORC2 and involves persis...

cell.com

This week's paper is by Yajing Gao, Peter Tontonoz and team who show that the lipid transporter Aster-A limits excess accumulation of cholesterol in the membrane of Th17 cells dampening TCR-signalling to guard against excessive Th17-cell responses. www.science.org/doi/epdf/10....

T cell cholesterol transport links intestinal immune responses to dietary lipid absorption

The intrinsic pathways that control membrane organization in immune cells and their impact on cellular functions are poorly defined. We found that the nonvesicular cholesterol transporter Aster-A link...

science.org

This week's recommended read is by Cai-Yang Wu and Dong-Ming Kuang and team who show that despite suppressing primary tumour growth, glucose deprivation promotes lung metastasis by depleting natural killer cells via lung macrophages. Read more at: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Glucose restriction shapes pre-metastatic innate immune landscapes in the lung through exosomal TRAIL

While targeting glucose metabolism shows potential in cancer therapy, its clinical implications remain unclear. This study finds that low-carbohydrate diets or impaired glucose metabolism in cancer ce...

cell.com

This week's recommended metabolism read is by Qiaocho Li, Thorsten Hoppe and team who show that leucine suppresses degradation of outer mitochondrial membrane proteins to enhance respiration - defects in leucine catabolism promote lung cancer resistance. www.nature.com/articles/s41556-025-01799-3

Leucine inhibits degradation of outer mitochondrial membrane proteins to adapt mitochondrial respiration - Nature Cell Biology

Li et al. uncover a connection between metabolic cues and mitochondrial protein degradation, showing that specifically leucine stabilizes outer mitochondrial membrane proteins by inhibiting ubiquityla...

nature.com

My fav paper this week is by Akiko Ogawa and Fan-Yan Wei and team who report that toxic RNA catabolites are detoxified by the sequential action of ADK and ADAL - disruption of this pathway leads to AMPK inhibition and metabolic dysfunction. Great work! doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...

The 2025 British Society for Haematology Guideline for the treatment of CLL is out. A big thank you to everyone involved - particularly Renata and Piers! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

2025 British Society for Haematology Guideline for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia

Click on the article title to read more.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

This weeks paper is by Joey Li and Timothy O'Sullivan and team who show that while activated murine NK cells can perform de novo serine synthesis, human NKs can't - highlighting a species-specific sensitivity to environmental serine availability. www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Species-specific serine metabolism differentially controls natural killer cell functions - Nature Metabolism

Li et al. characterize overlapping and divergent metabolic requirements of human and murine NK cells in response to activation, with a focus on serine metabolism

nature.com

This week my paper of choice is by Faith Kaluba and Evan Lien and team who show that beta-hydroxybutyrate can be used by cancer cells to generate cytosolic acetyl-CoA via a non-canonical route that avoids oxidation in the mitochondria. Great work! doi.org/10.1038/s422...

An alternative route for β-hydroxybutyrate metabolism supports cytosolic acetyl-CoA synthesis in cancer cells - Nature Metabolism

Kaluba, Rogers et al. show that in cancer cells that can metabolize ketones, they may reroute them to produce cytosolic acetyl-CoA and support tumour growth.

doi.org

This week my recommended read is a great paper by Andrew Scott and Daniel Wahl and team who show that glioblastomas prioritise serine uptake to support nucleotide synthesis making them sensitive to dietary serine-glycine restriction: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Rewiring of cortical glucose metabolism fuels human brain cancer growth - Nature

The cortex fuels essential physiological processes with glucose-derived carbon, while gliomas fuel their aggressiveness by rerouting glucose carbon pathways and scavenging alternative carbon sources s...

nature.com

We're hiring! We're recruiting a post-doc to join my lab at Barts Cancer Institute in London investigating amino acid metabolism in lymphoma biology. Apply here: qmul-jobs.tal.net/vx/mobile-0/...