In this paper, we show that the amino acid transporter ASCT2 (SLC1A5) is the primary importer of serine in cancer cells. While ASCT2 is well known as a glutamine transporter in cancer, Conger and team show that serine and glutamine compete for uptake through ASCT2. ASCT2-mediated serine uptake is essential for purine nucleotide biosynthesis and estrogen receptor α (ERα) promotes … Read More
Drs. Alicia Darnell and Christopher Chidley have been appointed as tenure-track Assistant Professors in the Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology. They will open their labs in September 2024 and are recruiting graduate students, research technicians, and postdocs. In an email to the department, Dr. Lee Zou, Chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, wrote, “We are excited … Read More
In this work, we developed a CRISPR interference/activation-based system to manipulate the expression level of single transporter genes. Using pooled screening, we can then systematically interrogate the contribution of all transporters to nutrient import/export in environments ranging from standard culture media to tumors. We applied this platform to identify the transporters of amino acids in leukemia cells and found that … Read More
