Lab paper

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

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