Gene expression and metabolic functions are tightly coupled cellular processes. Oncogenes induce metabolic changes that support continuous cell proliferation in cancer, but the molecular details of these changes are not well understood. The hypothesis behind this project is that rewired metabolic pathways directly change the gene regulatory networks to promote proliferation. In this project, modern genome editing methods will be combined with single-cell resolution analysis of gene expression and epigenetic chromatin features to identify the exact metabolic enzymes and gene regulatory events that affect proliferation of human colorectal cancer cells. This will provide novel mechanistic insight into oncogenic metabolic reprogramming and can ultimately identify novel targets for personalized cancer therapeutics. The project will be carried out at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki.

2023

2027