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Lucas Sullivan

@lucasbsullivan.bsky.social
796 followers 594 following 67 posts

Associate Professor @ Fred Hutch Studying metabolic constraints of cancer cell proliferation research.fredhutch.org/sullivan/en.… On a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam

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Reposted by Lucas Sullivan
Yasemin Sancak @yasesancak.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Excited to share our new preprint! biorxiv.org/content/10.6... We know that mitochondria make contacts with organelles, but determining whether these contacts establish functionally distinct mitochondrial populations has been challenging.
biorxiv.org
A Modular Platform for Purification of Organelle-associated Mitochondria Reveals Functional Specialization at Organelle Contact Sites
Mitochondria perform diverse metabolic and signaling functions, yet how these activities are spatially organized within the mitochondrial network of cells remains poorly understood. Organelle contact ...
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Lucas Sullivan @lucasbsullivan.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
A new preprint from our lab is out today at @elife.bsky.social! Our lab has focused on mechanisms by which mitochondrial metabolism supports cell proliferation. However, the observation that succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) mutations drive tumorigenesis seems paradoxical. doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
elifesciences.org
Adaptive plasticity of aspartate metabolism in succinate dehydrogenase-deficient cancer cells
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Nature Metabolism @natmetabolism.nature.com · 16/07/2026
RESEARCH | (FHCC, US) ML Hart D Sokolov @lucasbsullivan.bsky.social et al Succinate acts as a competitive inhibitor of mammalian aspartate transcarbamylase leading to impaired pyrimidine biosynthesis and reduced proliferation under SDHi 🧪
dlvr.it
Succinate dehydrogenase loss suppresses pyrimidine biosynthesis via succinate-mediated inhibition of aspartate transcarbamylase - Nature Metabolism
Succinate acts as a competitive inhibitor of mammalian aspartate transcarbamylase (ATCase), leading to impaired pyrimidine biosynthesis and reduced proliferation under SDH inhibition.
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Lucas Sullivan @lucasbsullivan.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Check out our recent Spotlight article in @cp-trendsendomet.bsky.social discussing intriguing new findings in mitochondrial lactate metabolism, written by graduate student Serwah Danquah! Paywall bypass link: authors.elsevier.com/a/1nNcv3jDgW...
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Fusion Conferences @fusionconf.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
📢SAVE THE DATE! 2nd Redox Biology in Health & Disease Conference 📅Date: 25 - 28 May 2027 🌏Location: Durrës, Albania Sign up for updates to find out more information on the conference: bit.ly/4eF65xf #FusionCancerResearch #FusionMetabolism #FusionHumanDisease #RedoxBio
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Payam Gammage @mito-oncogene.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
🚨Excited to announce a new preprint from our lab, where we describe an ancient metabolic axis that controls mitochondrial genome copy number; a mechanism we uncovered in human cells that stretches through evolution to control mtDNA in flies, yeast and even plants!
biorxiv.org
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Ram Chakrabarty @rpc3312.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Very happy to share our new paper. Together with our wonderful collaborators, we found that L-2-HG, a metabolite often viewed as “toxic,” also has an essential physiological function in mice. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Mitochondrial l-2-hydroxyglutarate is a physiological signalling metabolite - Nature
l-2-Hydroxyglutarate is identified as a legitimate physiological signalling metabolite, and control of its levels is essential for postnatal growth and survival and correct renal development and funct...
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Nature Metabolism @natmetabolism.nature.com · 09/05/2026
dlvr.it
Metformin lowers blood glucose by targeting intestinal mitochondrial complex I
Nature Metabolism, Published online: 08 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s42255-026-01532-wMetabolomic analysis of plasma from metformin-treated humans, together with mechanistic studies in mouse models, reveals that metformin selectively inhibits mitochondrial complex I in the intestinal epithelium. This mechanism unifies multiple clinical effects of metformin, including enhanced intestinal glucose use, improved postprandial glycaemic control and increased production of GDF15 and N-lactoyl-phenylalanine.
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Lucas Sullivan @lucasbsullivan.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
New out this week in @natmetabolism.nature.com – We measured dynamic aspartate changes following mitochondrial inhibition, finding that SDH inhibition causes a counterintuitive "aspartate rebound" effect, mediated by succinate impairing pyrimidine synthesis. www.nature.com/articles/s42...
nature.com
Succinate dehydrogenase loss suppresses pyrimidine biosynthesis via succinate-mediated inhibition of aspartate transcarbamylase - Nature Metabolism
Succinate acts as a competitive inhibitor of mammalian aspartate transcarbamylase (ATCase), leading to impaired pyrimidine biosynthesis and reduced proliferation under SDH inhibition.
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Cristina Muñoz Pinedo @crismunozp.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Very interesting articles about cancer metabolism this month, and insightful reviews. Highlighting fresh articles and comments about cysteine and glutathione from @lucasbsullivan.bsky.social @ginadenicola.bsky.social @harrislab.bsky.social and others metabolist.wordpress.com/2026/05/04/m...
metabolist.wordpress.com
MetaboList – April 2026
Cystine / Glutathione / NADPH SLC33A1 exports oxidized glutathione to maintain endoplasmic reticulum redox homeostasis Shanshan Liu  (刘珊珊), Mark Gad, Caifan Li  (李采蘩), Kevin Cho, Yuyang Liu  (刘雨洋),…
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Lucas Sullivan @lucasbsullivan.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Our review dissecting the nuanced roles of mitochondria during cancer progression, was just published in @annualreviews.bsky.social. This one was written by David Sokolov with his approachable and entertaining writing style. Check it out: www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
annualreviews.org
Mitochondria, OXPHOS, and Cancer Progression: A Modular View
Mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) is an ancient metabolic process that is increasingly recognized as an important player in cancer onset, progression, and treatment resistance. In this ...
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Reposted by Lucas Sullivan
Nature Metabolism @natmetabolism.nature.com · 07/04/2026
dlvr.it
Drowning in cysteine
Nature Metabolism, Published online: 07 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s42255-026-01511-1In this issue of Nature Metabolism, Brain, Vigil et al. show that NRF2-induced cystine uptake drives the formation of several cysteine–sugar metabolites. This process acts as a ‘sink’ for free cysteine and can lead to metabolic vulnerabilities and toxicity in NRF2-activated tumours.
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Jen Brain (Crainic) @jenniferabrain.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Check out our latest work out today in @natmetabolism.nature.com in which we describe a new metabotype (metabolic phenotype): excess cysteine stress. We discovered novel cysteine conjugates and show how pyruvate modulates free intracellular cysteine levels. Grateful for an awesome team!!
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Lucas Sullivan @lucasbsullivan.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Pleased to share our recent work out today in @natmetabolism.nature.com. This study addresses a longstanding mystery - NRF2-driven cancers increase cysteine acquisition (via xCT) by ~5x - so where does all that cysteine go?
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Julia S. Brunner @juliabrunner.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
A big chunk of my postdoctoral work on cell-state dependent metabolism is now out at @cp-molcell.bsky.social: www.cell.com/molecular-ce... 1/
cell.com
Aspartate availability drives differential engagement of the malate-aspartate shuttle
Brunner et al. report that malate-aspartate shuttle engagement is cell-state dependent and can be modulated by the availability of the amino acid aspartate. In differentiated cells, malate-aspartate s...
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Jason Cantor @jasonrcantor.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
For ~century, we’ve asked: why do proliferating cells ferment glucose even when O2 is around? I’m thrilled to share our latest work @natmetabolism.nature.com, led by @thebiokimist.bsky.social. By leveraging conditional essentiality in HPLM, we propose a provocative new answer to this classic Q. 🧵
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Barbara Marte @barbmarte.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
new out in Nature www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Nutrient requirements of organ-specific metastasis in breast cancer - Nature
How the complex interplay between multiple nutrients within the microenvironment dictates potential sites of metastatic cancer growth is explored.
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Lucas Sullivan @lucasbsullivan.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
Our work detailing the metabolic roles of serum for cancer cell proliferation is now out at JBC, @asbmbjournals.bsky.social! Congrats to Oliver and Eric and many thanks to the editor and reviewers for a thoughtful and efficient review process. See here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Defined media reveal the essential role of lipid scavenging in supporting cancer cell proliferation
Fetal bovine serum (FBS) is an undefined additive that is ubiquitous to mammalian cell culture media and whose functional contributions to promoting c…
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Lucas Sullivan @lucasbsullivan.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
Check out this great interview with a true rising star in metabolism research (and lab alumni)! 🙌
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Yasemin Sancak @yasesancak.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
Our paper on regulation of BCAA catabolism by mitochondrial calcium signaling is out! Mitochondrial calcium signaling regulates branched-chain amino acid catabolism in fibrolamellar carcinoma | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Mitochondrial calcium signaling regulates branched-chain amino acid catabolism in fibrolamellar carcinoma
Mitochondrial Ca2+ signaling regulates branched-chain amino acid catabolism in an adolescent liver cancer.
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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 29/05/2025
Mass Spec xkcd.com/3094/
[Person with ponytail wearing lab coat hands balloon to another person in front of a springboard, a magnet hanging from above, and then a target] PERSON WITH PONYTAIL to Person 2: Rub this balloon against your head, then go jump past that magnet toward the target on the wall. [caption] Before the bathroom scale was invented, the only way to weigh people was mass spectrometry.
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Natalie Niemi @nieminm.bsky.social · 26/05/2025
Niemi lab graduate student Hannah Pletcher recently joined @prelights.bsky.social and wrote nice highlight of recent work from @lucasbsullivan.bsky.social - check it out here!
bit.ly
Succinate Dehydrogenase loss causes cascading metabolic effects that impair pyrimidine biosynthesis - preLights
Not all aspartate limitation is created equal: An aspartate biosensor reveals that inhibiting succinate dehydrogenase results in defects in pyrimidine synthesis and replication stress, unique from oth...
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David MacPherson Lab @davidmacphersonlab.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Our latest, in Science Advances: In vivo CRISPR screen revealed sgRNAs that switch chemosensitive SCLC PDXs to become resistant.We validated KEAP1 as key hit and found KEAP1 alterations in IMpower133 trial, where active NRF2 links to reduced survival in chemo arm www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... 1/2
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Jen Brain (Crainic) @jenniferabrain.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Overjoyed to have the opportunity to present my work orally at the Cancer Metabolism Showcase! Hope to see you there virtually!
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Reposted by Lucas Sullivan
Rich Possemato @richpossemato.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
From Nobel prize winning cancer researcher Bill Kaelin Killing the Science Golden Goose - The American Journal of Medicine www.amjmed.com/article/S000...
amjmed.com
Killing the Science Golden Goose
In the 1970’s I was probably one of the last American high school students who was told that if you wanted to go to medical school, you should learn to speak German. This was because in the late 19th ...
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Jen Brain (Crainic) @jenniferabrain.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
Obliteride registeration opens today!!! Join the @lucasbsullivan.bsky.social team and help to CURE CANCER FASTER! See you August 9th at the starting line!! @obliteride.bsky.social #Obliteride #Obliteride2025 secure.fredhutch.org/goto/sulliva...
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Jen Brain (Crainic) @jenniferabrain.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Poster is printed! Looking forward to going to the Keystone Tumor Metabolism meeting next week in Vancouver. Come talk to me about NRF2, cysteine, and novel metabolite discovery! #KSTumorMetab25 #cancermetabolism #keystonesymposia
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Jason Cantor @jasonrcantor.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
happy to share our forum now online @Cell_Metabolism! fun for us (Guy & myself) to collaborate with @dfazakerley.bsky.social, Joycelyn, & Sam in putting together what we hope will be a useful piece for the broad metabolism community re: in vitro modeling! www.cell.com/cell-metabol...
cell.com
Seeing the world through the eyes of cultured cells
The metabolic environment experienced by cultured cells often differs from physiological conditions. Here, we highlight the effects that the microenvironment can have on cultured cell behavior and adv...
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Tina Termini @cterminiphd.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
We were delighted to have @king5news.com.web.brid.gy visit us in the Termini Lab to discuss how NIH funding cuts could affect cancer research: m.youtube.com/watch?v=Szo9... We NEED indirect costs to provide funding needed complete research studies that will lead to life saving discoveries.
m.youtube.com
Potential NIH funding cuts could affect local cancer research
YouTube video by KING 5 Seattle
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Lucas Sullivan @lucasbsullivan.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Next, our 2nd preprint of the week (!), this one driven by @madelouhart.bsky.social Previously: Mitochondrial inhibition impairs cell proliferation by constraining aspartate (ASP) availability. Here: we investigate the kinetics of ASP depletion/ proliferation impairments and...surprises ensue!
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Lucas Sullivan @lucasbsullivan.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Excited to share a recent preprint by Oliver Newsom, where we evaluate the functional contributions of serum for cancer cell proliferation. Inside: A broadly applicable serum-free media, Quantitative lipid uptake characterization, Evidence lipid scavenging > synthesis for cancer cell proliferation.
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Molecular & Cellular Biology Graduate Program @mcbseattle.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
See you next week for Oliver Newsom’s dissertation defense! Title: No Fat Chance: albumin-associated lipids are critical for culture success Lab: Sullivan Lab, FH (@lucasbsullivan.bsky.social When: Thurs, Feb. 13, 1:30pm PDT Where: FH Sze Suites, Thomas Building & Zoom (email mcb@uw.edu for link)
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Isaac Harris @harrislab.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
I’m really proud to announce the 2025 Cancer Metabolism Showcase and Workshop, May 5th and 6th, 9:30 AM - 3 PM EST. This year, our Keynote Speaker is Dr. Jeffrey Rathmell from VUMC. I'm excited to come together, talk science, and support researchers in our field. www.cancermetabolismshowcase.org
cancermetabolismshowcase.org
9:30 AM - 3 PM EST, May 5th and 6th, 2025
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Brendan Manning @bdmanning.bsky.social · 23/12/2024
But…..ok, ok, I’m convinced. Elegant and definitive. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Metformin targets mitochondrial complex I to lower blood glucose levels
Acute oral metformin administration lowers blood glucose levels by targeting mitochondrial complex I.
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Phillip White @phillipjwhitephd.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
Registration is open for #METPHYS2025! www.sablesys.com/metphys2025-...
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Christian Frezza @frezzalab.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
I have curated a second "metabolism" starter pack, as the first quickly got full. Please have a look, and I am happy to add others (sorry for those who may appear in both): go.bsky.app/CH1MctZ
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Christian Frezza @frezzalab.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
Updated extensive starter pack for #cancermetabolism and #mitochondrialbiology go.bsky.app/VavECSX
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