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Caleb Cheng

@djcalebc.bsky.social
43 followers 58 following 26 posts

✝️🇹🇼🇺🇸 MD/PhD student at the University of Michigan. Cellular and Molecular Biology candidate in Arul Chinnaiyan and Costas Lyssiotis laboratories

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Reposted by Caleb Cheng
Lucid Scientific @lucidscientific.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
In a recent Nature paper, @djcalebc.bsky.social et al. explore how PIKfyve regulates lysosomal lipid recycling in PDAC. This opens up a therapeutic window: co-inhibition of PIKfyve and the KRAS–MAPK pathway leads to synthetic lethality & tumor regression. View it here >>> nature.com/articles/s41...
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Reposted by Caleb Cheng
Barbara Marte @barbmarte.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
more from last week www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Targeting PIKfyve-driven lipid metabolism in pancreatic cancer - Nature
A study of human and mouse models of pancreatic cancer finds that inhibiting the lipid kinase PIKfyve interferes with the cancer’s lipid homeostasis, making it a potential target for drug development.
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Caleb Cheng @djcalebc.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
My team and I are at #AACR25 and have posters to discuss parts of the project (and some future directions) tomorrow! Rüya Pakkan will present on Tuesday AM Abstract #4158 Sec 13 board 8. I will present on Tuesday PM #5384 Sec 12 board 12. Come visit!
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Caleb Cheng @djcalebc.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
Thank you!! And thank you for all your help and support along the way 😊
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Caleb Cheng @djcalebc.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
Thanks @bryantkl.bsky.social for the shoutout!! Look forward to seeing your future work including target PIKfyve as well as RAS in PDAC 💪
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Caleb Cheng @djcalebc.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
Thanks so much Siva!!! Look forward to seeing yours out soon 🫡
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Caleb Cheng @djcalebc.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
🫶
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Caleb Cheng @djcalebc.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
Thanks for this writeup and for highlighting our work!!
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Caleb Cheng @djcalebc.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
Thanks so much!!
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Reposted by Caleb Cheng
Lyssiotis Lab @lyssiotislab.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
🔥Smoking hot new paper and tweetorial from @djcalebc.bsky.social (collab with Chinnaiyan Lab)! 🔥 We are over the moon about this new work and its therapeutic implications for pancreatic cancer. Please have a read and share your thoughts/feedback! 🙏🏼
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Reposted by Caleb Cheng
Edna Cukierman - Tumor Microenvironment @tme-caf-ecm.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Excited to be part of this #AACR25 (@theaacr.bsky.social @rickbuck.bsky.social) Social Media Ambassadorship!! Look out for updates on the #Tumor-microenvironment ( #TME )-relevant events and highlights. I’ll be posting from Sunday afternoon to midday Wednesday 😎
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Caleb Cheng @djcalebc.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Thank you for the highlight!!
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Caleb Cheng @djcalebc.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Thanks for the highlight!!!
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Caleb Cheng @djcalebc.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
13/ Finally thanks to the many friends for your support from both @lyssiotislab.bsky.social and the Chinnaiyan lab @brandontwchen.bsky.social @radykm.bsky.social @juliaugras.bsky.social @ja-nietocarrion.bsky.social @mruckert.bsky.social @shiva251993.bsky.social @federicadanzi.bsky.social 💜💜
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Caleb Cheng @djcalebc.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
12/ Also very grateful to officially have my first paper out in the pancreatic cancer field! This community has been so welcoming, and I look forward to working on PDAC throughout my training and career! @pancan.bsky.social
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Caleb Cheng @djcalebc.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
11/ THANK YOU to all the many contributors to this project, collaborators, mentors, and leaders. I am so honored to have been a part of this exciting study @awaddomi.bsky.social @lyssiotislab.bsky.social Arul Chinnaiyan and Yuanyuan Qiao.
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Caleb Cheng @djcalebc.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
10/ We’re extremely excited about this potential therapeutic strategy given all the RAS inhibitors coming out. This also complements another recent story showing that PIKfyve inhibition synergizes with RAS-MAPK through disrupting autophagy @bryantkl.bsky.social aacrjournals.org/cancerres/ar...
aacrjournals.org
Concurrent Inhibition of the RAS-MAPK Pathway and PIKfyve Is a Therapeutic Strategy for Pancreatic Cancer
PIKfyve inhibition effectively blocks autophagy in multiple models of KRAS-mutant pancreatic cancer and can synergize with inhibitors of members of the RAS–MAPK pathway, providing an effective combina...
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Caleb Cheng @djcalebc.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
We show this concept in efficacy studies using xenografts, orthotopic allografts, and KPC models in which the combo of RAS-MAPK and PIKfyve inhibitors resulted in regression/cures! Thanks especially to @jenmorton.bsky.social @macleanoncology.bsky.social @cruk-si.bsky.social @uofglasgow.bsky.social
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Caleb Cheng @djcalebc.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
8/ These suggest that co-targeting KRAS-MAPK and PIKfyve may result in synergistic effects through opposing effects on lipid metabolism!
media.tenor.com
a man in a leather jacket is making a funny face while looking at the camera .
ALT: a man in a leather jacket is making a funny face while looking at the camera .
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Caleb Cheng @djcalebc.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
7/ We then found that KRAS can regulate de novo lipid synthesis through regulating genes such as FASN and ACC1 through MAPK signaling, and that KRAS-MAPK inhibition partially reverses the transcriptional and metabolic adaptation that PIKfyve inhibition elicits on PDAC cells.
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Caleb Cheng @djcalebc.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
6/ RNA-seq, metabolomics, lipidomics, and stable isotope tracing strongly corroborated these results and suggested that PIKfyve inhibition triggers an adaptive lipogenic transcriptional and metabolic program. Special thanks to Dr. Pietro Morlacchi from Agilent for their help with the lipidomics!
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Caleb Cheng @djcalebc.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
5/ To assess the metabolic effect of inhibiting PIKfyve in PDAC, we ran a metabolism-focused CRISPR screen using PIKfyve inhibition as a selective pressure. The screen strongly demonstrated that PIKfyve inhibition forces PDAC cells rely on de novo lipid biosynthesis.
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Caleb Cheng @djcalebc.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
4/ We started with a GEMM developed by Yuanyuan Qiao demonstrating that loss of Pikfyve slows PDAC development in KC/KPC models while preserving pancreas function. Using a phase 1 cleared inhibitor ESK981, we also found that PIKfyve inhibition slows PDAC development and growth.
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Caleb Cheng @djcalebc.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
3/ Here, we show that inhibiting PIKfyve slows PDAC growth and induces an adaptive lipogenesis that can be blocked by KRAS inhibition. Follow along below for more in-depth tweetorial!
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Caleb Cheng @djcalebc.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Link to paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Targeting PIKfyve-driven lipid metabolism in pancreatic cancer - Nature
A study of human and mouse models of pancreatic cancer finds that inhibiting the lipid kinase PIKfyve interferes with the cancer’s lipid homeostasis, making it a potential target for drug development.
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Caleb Cheng @djcalebc.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Beyond grateful to share that my main PhD thesis project, Targeting PIKfyve-driven lipid metabolism in pancreatic cancer (@lyssiotislab.bsky.social + Arul Chinnaiyan lab), has just been published in @nature.com!
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Reposted by Caleb Cheng
Federica Danzi, PhD @federicadanzi.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Congrats to @djcalebc.bsky.social and @lyssiotislab.bsky.social for this awesome work🤩 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Targeting PIKfyve-driven lipid metabolism in pancreatic cancer - Nature
A study of human and mouse models of pancreatic cancer finds that inhibiting the lipid kinase PIKfyve interferes with the cancer’s lipid homeostasis, making it a potential target for drug development.
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Caleb Cheng @djcalebc.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
Thank you!!!!
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Reposted by Caleb Cheng
Brandon Chen, PhD @brandontwchen.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
Happy to share our most recent review on mitochondria-organelle metabolic communication with Yatrik Shah and Costas Lyssiotis now online at Molecular Cell! We explored aspect of lipid transfer, organelle membrane contacts, ROS, metabolites, and metals! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Mitochondria-organelle crosstalk in establishing compartmentalized metabolic homeostasis
Mitochondria serve as central hubs in cellular metabolism by sensing, integrating, and responding to metabolic demands. This integrative function is a…
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Caleb Cheng @djcalebc.bsky.social · 30/03/2025
Excited for this!
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Reposted by Caleb Cheng
Rushika M. Perera @rushika-perera.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
An incredible tour de force in biochemistry and cell biology by superstar @robzonculab.bsky.social lab postdoc @aakritijain.bsky.social LyLAP - a new lysosomal protease responsible for degrading integral membrane proteins in highly phagocytic cells like #PDAC cells. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Leucine aminopeptidase LyLAP enables lysosomal degradation of membrane proteins
Breakdown of every transmembrane protein trafficked to lysosomes requires proteolysis of their hydrophobic helical transmembrane domains. Combining lysosomal proteomics with functional genomic dataset...
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Caleb Cheng @djcalebc.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
I had 2 decaf ones😬
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Reposted by Caleb Cheng
Cosimo Commisso @cosimocommisso.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
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Caleb Cheng @djcalebc.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Short but very fun visit to UNC Chapel Hill! Definitely one of the most beautiful college campuses.
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Reposted by Caleb Cheng
Pancreatic Cancer Action Network @pancan.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Yesterday, the House passed an FY25 budget bill that slashes funding to the Pancreatic Cancer Research Program by 57%. Research for pancreatic cancer is already woefully underfunded, and now the only program exclusively funding pancreatic cancer research is one step closer to devastating cuts.
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Reposted by Caleb Cheng
Lyssiotis Lab @lyssiotislab.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
A beautiful thesis defense from Narges Pourmandi for CMB, Michigan Medicine. Back to the hospital next week to complete her medical training ❤️🙌🏼🩺 We are so proud of her many accomplishments! @YatrikShahLab
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