Read the latest news about members of the Possemato Lab.

Recent News

Lab member Jong Shin published a new paper, Allosteric regulation of CAD modulates de novo pyrimidine synthesis during the cell cycle, in the journal Nature Metabolism. Cells adjust which molecules they produce to meet changing needs. We describe how the enzyme CAD evolved in animals to sense whether cells have enough DNA building blocks to grow and divide. Read a News & Views preview written by nucleotide synthesis expert Issam Ben-Sahra.
February 2023

Lab member Elizabeth Gorodetsky received an NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award!
March 2022

Lab member Marte Molenaars received Human Frontier Science Program Postdoctoral Fellowship!
March 2022

Lab member Marte Molenaars received EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship!
December 2021

Lab member Erdem Terzi published a new paper, Iron-sulfur cluster deficiency can be sensed by IRP2 and regulates iron homeostasis and sensitivity to ferroptosis independent of IRP1 and FBXL5, in the journal Science Advances. Cells must carefully manage iron to prevent oxidative damage and cell death. A specific cellular component, IRP2, regulates iron levels in a way that may be dysregulated in an inherited neurodegenerative disease.
May 2021

Lab member Vlad Sviderskiy published a new paper, Hyperactive CDK2 activity in basal-like breast cancer imposes a genome integrity liability that can be exploited by targeting DNA polymerase epsilon, in the journal Molecular Cell. A difficult-to-treat type of breast cancer, basal-like, is unusually sensitive to inhibition of a gene involved in DNA duplication, POLE1. Cancer promoting changes typically present in this tumor type were identified as factors that cause sensitivity to POLE1 inhibition.
November 2020

Summer Student Takaharu Araki named a 2020 Regeneron STS Scholar! Taka has investigated the impact of oxygen and mTORC1 activation on central carbon metabolism under the mentorship of Jong Shin.
January 2020

Possemato Lab Receives American Cancer Society Research Scholar Grant
January 2020

Lab member Vlad Sviderskiy received an NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award!
April 2018

Lab member Vlad Sviderskiy selected to attend the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. Vlad, an MD/PhD student, was selected in a competition to attend this prestigious meeting in Lindau, Germany, where he will have the opportunity meet current and past Nobel Laureates. Perhaps someday they will be his peers!
March 2018

Lab members Minwoo Nam, Daniel McLaughlin, and Denise Minton published a new paper, Serine Catabolism by SHMT2 is Required for Proper Mitochondrial Translation Initiation and Maintenance of Formylmethionyl tRNAs, in the journal Molecular Cell. Serine catabolic enzyme SHMT2 contributes one carbon units required for the production of mitochondrial initiator tRNA formylation. SHMT2 loss impacts mitochondrial translation, depleting mitochondrially encoded proteins and decreasing respiration.
February 2018

Press Release: New Way to Target Lung Tumors Unveiled Through Creative Research
A protein’s role in helping such cancers respond to their environment may be a key to innovative therapies.
February 2018

Selected Awards

Dr. Possemato has received the following awards:

• 2019 Above and Beyond Mentorship Award
• 2018 AACR NextGen Star
• 2016 Pew-Stewart Scholar for Cancer Research
• 2015 Susan G. Komen Career Catalyst
• 2015 V Foundation V Scholar Award
• 2012 K99/R00 Transition to Independence Award, NIH
• 2011 Margaret and Herman Sokol Post-Doctoral Award, Whitehead Institute
• 2009 Susan G. Komen Post-Doctoral Fellowship
• 2002 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Predoctoral Fellowship