Accumulation of lactate is a famous metabolic hallmark of aggressive cancers. For a century, the prevailing view has been that lactate accumulates as an inert metabolic byproduct of cell growth and division. Recent discoveries in the Chouchani lab overturned this idea and proposed a novel biochemical mechanism positioning lactate as a critical metabolic signal in cancer cells. This project seeks to understand how accumulated lactate can directly control the genetic identity and function of tumor growth and metastasis through this new paradigm.
Dr. Chouchani is an Associate Professor at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. His lab applies mass spectrometry and biochemical approaches to understand how metabolites regulate cellular function in pre-clinical models of health and disease. His research focuses on developing technologies to understand how metabolites regulate physiological processes. In 2017 he became an Assistant Professor at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School.