Rising Stars in Metabolism Symposium

Julia Brunner is a former HFSP long-term and current Kravis-WiSE fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Lydia Finley at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Her research focuses on how metabolic networks reconfigure to support cell fate changes and cellular identity. Specifically, Julia’s work aims to understand cellular dependencies on the TCA cycle and related electron shuttles. One of her projects describes a cell-state specific engagement of the malate-aspartate shuttle that is driven by metabolic demands for the amino acid aspartate. She further co-led a second study that described metabolite clearance as a novel function of the canonical TCA cycle. Here, she showed that increasing cellular nutrient consumption and citrate production drives flux through the canonical TCA cycle and, accordingly, induces dependence on canonical TCA cycle enzyme aconitase 2 to catabolize citrate.

Julia earned her Ph.D. in Immunology in 2020 under the mentorship of Dr. Gernot Schabbauer at the Medical University of Vienna, where she investigated how the metabolic environment influences macrophage function in health and disease.

Andrew Cangelosi received his B.S. from Duke University in 2014 and his Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2022. His graduate work in the lab of Dr. David Sabatini combined mouse genetics with biochemical and imaging approaches to understand the spatial heterogeneity of leucine sensing by mTORC1 in the liver and its implications for metabolic physiology. After completing his Ph.D., Andrew joined the lab of Dr. Chris Newgard at the Duke Molecular Physiology Institute at Duke University. His postdoctoral work leverages in vivo functional genomics and molecular profiling to identify novel mitochondrial mechanisms that control liver metabolism. Andrew has been recognized as a 2024 Postdoctoral Rising Star by the University of Utah and is the recipient of a Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Predoctoral Fellowship Award and a Helen Hay Whitney Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship Award.

Dr. Michael Dahabieh earned his Ph.D. in experimental medicine from McGill University and his M.Sc. and B.Sc. in molecular biology and biochemistry from Simon Fraser University. His thesis research focused on the role of peroxisomes in tumor proliferation across multiple model systems. To aide in his research, he has laboratory skills that include immunoprecipitation, immunofluorescence, flow cytometry, electron microscopy, density centrifugation, among others. In 2020, Dr. Dahabieh continued his study of cancer and metabolism as a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Russell Jones’ lab.

Dr. Yajing Gao earned her B.Sc. from the University of Science and Technology of China and completed her Ph.D. in Immunology at UT Southwestern Medical Center. She is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UCLA, working with Dr. Peter Tontonoz. Her research focuses on the fundamental mechanisms by which immune cells maintain lipid homeostasis within the membrane bilayer. Recently, she elucidated a family of cholesterol transporters that dynamically scale the responsiveness of T cells by regulating the amount of cholesterol molecules interacting with T cell receptors at the plasma membrane. Dr. Gao additionally investigates the metabolic consequences of altered immunity. Through her research, Dr. Gao hopes to identify new ways to promote tissue immune tolerance or generate more potent immunotherapies. She was a Damon Runyon/The Mark Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow from 2021–2024 and is a current recipient of the NIH Pathway to Independence Award. In addition to her research, Dr. Gao is a dedicated mentor and active contributor to the Southern California metabolism and immunology research communities.

Nicholas Lesner received his undergraduate degree in chemistry from the College of Wooster. He received his Ph.D. degree in 2021 from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center as an NRSA Fellow (NIH NIDDK F31), where he studied metabolic reprogramming in response to mitochondrial electron transport chain dysfunction with Prashant Mishra, M.D., Ph.D. During his Ph.D., he discovered the importance of electron acceptors in mitochondrial DNA diseases, and that complex I of the electron transport chain is dispensable in hepatocytes. As a Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellow, he is studying nitrogen metabolism in genetically distinct hepatocellular carcinoma in the laboratory of M. Celeste Simon, Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania.

Zachary Sebo is a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University in the laboratory of Navdeep Chandel. His research lies at the intersection of molecular metabolism and pharmacology and has uncovered a key glucose-lowering mechanism of metformin, the first-line therapy for type 2 diabetes. His emerging projects focus on the molecular basis of fitness, with the goal of identifying new therapeutic strategies to enhance health and resilience.

Dr. Sebo’s research has been supported by the American Federation for Aging Research, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation. He earned his Ph.D. from Yale University, where he received the Spangler Award for Outstanding Ph.D. Thesis. In addition to his research, Dr. Sebo has mentored several high school and undergraduate students who have gone on to pursue scientific careers.

Dr. Russell Jones investigates metabolism at the cellular level to understand how it affects cell behavior and health, with a specific eye on cancer and the immune system. By revealing how cancer cells use metabolic processes to fuel their growth and spread, Dr. Jones hopes to develop new treatments that help patients by changing the standard of care for cancer.

Cancer cells have voracious appetites for nutrients and energy, which they use to grow and spread. Dr. Evan Lien searches for ways to deprive tumors of their fuel sources by exploring the molecular and biochemical interactions between diet, metabolism and cancer with the goal of developing breakthrough prevention and treatment strategies.

Dr. Kelsey Williams joined VAI in 2018 as a scientific project leader in the lab of Dr. Russell Jones, bringing experience in mass spectrometry, data visualization and project management. In 2021, she became the scientific program manager for the Institute’s Metabolism and Nutrition (MeNu) Program. In this role, Kelsey has sustainably increased the efficiency and quality of metabolism research at VAI, facilitating new collaborations and improving grant and paper submissions. She holds a Ph.D. in fiber and polymer science from North Carolina State University and is pursuing her MBA from Indiana University.