Metabolomics and Enzymology (10 Plenary Forums - 1 Event)

Biography

Dr. Gina M. DeNicola received her PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Pennsylvania during which time she was a visiting student at the University of Cambridge. During her graduate work, she studied the control of reactive oxygen species metabolism by oncogenes in the laboratory of David Tuveson. Following her PhD studies, she did her postdoctoral work at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center & Weill Cornell Medical College with Lewis Cantley, where she studied the reprogramming of cellular metabolism by the oncogene NRF2. She is currently an Assistant Member at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in the Department of Cancer Imaging and Metabolism, and a member of the Cancer Biology and Evolution Program.

Research Interest

Cells have energetic and anabolic needs for growth and proliferation. Research in the DeNicola lab is focused on understanding how cells meet these needs and the mechanisms governing the regulation of tumor metabolism in vivo. We, and others, have identified that NRF2 activation leads to profound deregulation of cellular metabolism, including the promotion of serine biosynthesis, which is critical for the proliferation of KEAP1 and NRF2 mutant cells. Using cell lines, organoid cultures and genetically engineered mouse models, we investigate the influence of both genomic alterations and the microenvironment on cellular metabolism with metabolomics technologies.