# Revealing cancer metabolism via mass spectrometry and isotope tracers

> **NIH NIH R50** · PRINCETON UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $125,134

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Metabolism plays a fundamental role in cancer growth, diagnosis (e.g. FDG-PET), and treatment (e.g.
antifolates, asparaginase). Over the past decade, research into cancer metabolism has flourished,
contextualized by the realization that metabolic changes in cancer are triggered by oncogene signaling and
accelerated by the emergence of new measurement tools. This NCI Research Specialist Award will study
cancer metabolism using the most important modern tools: mass spectrometry and isotope tracers. Working
together with Unit Director Joshua Rabinowitz and his lab, and a diverse set of collaborators from Rutgers
Cancer Institute of New Jersey and other leading institutions, I aim over the next 5 years to achieve the
following: (1) Optimize LC-MS-based metabolomic methods, focusing on ultrasensitive measurements
appropriate for small biopsy samples and on novel metabolite identification via untargeted metabolomics. (2)
Develop and optimize the imaging mass spectrometry methods for spatial metabolomics. (3) Combine these
methods with isotope tracers to determine fluxes in tumors in vivo. Rabinowitz and I have a long-standing
leadership position in isotope tracer methods for quantitating metabolic fluxes. We have recently developed
protocols for infusing a wide variety of 13C, 15N, and 2H-tracers into mice, with the goal of enabling quantitation
of tumor metabolic flux. We are pushing to enable these measurements also by mass spectrometry imaging,
eventually with single cell resolution. Resulting data will provide critical insights into the metabolic
pathophysiology of cancer and immune cells in the native tumor microenvironment and will thereby inform
treatment selection strategies and the development of novel therapeutics.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10491949
- **Project number:** 5R50CA211437-07
- **Recipient organization:** PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Wenyun Lu
- **Activity code:** R50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $125,134
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-09-19 → 2026-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10491949

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10491949, Revealing cancer metabolism via mass spectrometry and isotope tracers (5R50CA211437-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10491949. Licensed CC0.

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