A true legend. www.bcm.edu/about-us/lea...

Regulated decay of microRNAs plays a critical role in controlling body size in mammals! Check out our new paper in @genesdev.bsky.social and see thread previously posted with our pre-print 👇 for more info. Congrats to Collette LaVigne, Jaeil Han, and all authors! genesdev.cshlp.org/cgi/content/...

Here's the beautiful paper from @chembiohub.bsky.social reporting NUDT5's role in purine synthesis. I cannot emphasize enough how gracious and open these authors were when we all realized we were working on the same mechanism.

1/New paper from Zheng Wu, Phong Nguyen et al. @cri-utsw.bsky.social shows how cells balance the two pathways that produce purine nucleotides: de novo purine biosynthesis (DNPB) and purine salvage. The surprising mechanism involves NUDT5, a Nudix hydrolase www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Excited to share our work @nature.com! Postdoc @mariopalma.bsky.social, with major contributions from @retickerflynn.bsky.social and collaborators, discovered melanoma cells in lymph nodes gain a targetable FSP1 dependency that limits progression. #TeamFSP1 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Identification of a new, autosomal dominant form of familial partial lipodystrophy from Abhimanyu Garg and team. This disease is caused by a recurrent variant in ACAA2, which encodes an enzyme in mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation. www.jci.org/articles/vie...

We moved the RJDLab potluck to Halloween this year. Thanks to Gaby Cano for organizing! (And decorating).

Congrats to all Damon Runyon's SPARK Scholars, including our own scholar Imani Williams who is studying cancer metabolism. Thank you Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation @damonrunyon.org for supporting this great initiative. www.damonrunyon.org/news/entries...

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Remarkable new human proteome-wide effort to predict protein-protein interactions using coevolutionary signals and deep learning. From Qian Cong in the Eugene McDermott Center at UT Southwestern. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Thank you @cri-utsw.bsky.social postdocs!

I’m thrilled to share that I have been awarded an NIH/NIGMS K99 Pathway to Independence Award. I’m deeply grateful to everyone who has supported me along the way, especially @rjdlab.bsky.social @cri-utsw.bsky.social

🍹 @walterwchen.bsky.social et al show that PEX39 cooperates with PEX7 in the peroxisomal import of proteins containing a PTS2 site and uncover an (R/K)PWE motif in PEX39 and PEX13 that binds to PEX7 and facilitates the import of PTS2-containing proteins. bit.ly/4lmjv2l

Congrats! 👏👏👏 Two CRI scientists named 2025 Pew-Stewart & Pew Scholars — Javier Garcia-Bermudez, Ph.D. & @hrshin.bsky.social — to advance cancer, biomedical research 🧪 Read more about their #relentlessdiscovery ⬇️ cri.utsw.edu/two-children... @pewtrusts.org

1/New paper on peroxisome assembly, reporting the detailed mechanism of PEX39, a new peroxin involved in PTS2 protein transport. Fantastic work by ‪@walterwchen.bsky.social‬ and a dream team of collaborators, as explained below. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

1/Patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) are used in preclinical testing of cancer therapies, including metabolic therapies. We determined which metabolic properties are retained, and which are lost, when melanomas from patients are implanted and passaged as PDXs in mice. www.nature.com/articles/s42...

If Ozzy Osbourne could write Crazy Train, I can write one more paragraph of a research summary.

Thanks Nature Cancer for the chance to reflect on some factors that led me to study cancer metabolism. For the trainees and other young scientists: the critical events that shape your career might not be obvious while they are happening. Keep an open mind and trust your instincts. rdcu.be/evi4I

Welcome back Pei-Hsuan! (Front row, 2nd from right.) Pei was one of my first PhD students. She stopped by on a visit to Dallas to say hello. I am not sure anyone in the lab has generated quite as much data as Pei. Her remarkable paper: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31564558/

I still use them; I'm OK with people knowing I went to college. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Today in @dallasnews.com by @sodendritic.bsky.social: "Dallas researchers find cancer’s secret weapon to defeat death" ⬇️ read more www.dallasnews.com/news/2025/06... 🧪 #relentlessdiscovery @rjdlab.bsky.social

Excellent news for a fantastic young scientist and colleague. Congrats @walterwchen.bsky.social !

GAGs regulate LDL uptake and protect cells from lipid oxidation - new from Javier Garcia-Bermudez.

🎥 Now On Demand! Catch the Keystone Symposium: Metabolic & Nutritional Control of Development and Cell Fate—featuring top researchers at the intersection of metabolism, diet & development. 🎓 Stream now: keysym.us/KSMetabDev25OD #KSMetabDev @rjdlab.bsky.social @lydiafiney.bsky.social‬

Thanks Shuyuan Zhang and Biochemistry PhD students for inviting me to Case Western Reserve University for the Harlan G Wood lecture. It was an honor and pleasure. See you all soon!

1/New pre-print from Wen Gu reporting enhanced self-renewal and defective neuronal differentiation in neural progenitor cells from patients with L-2-hydroxyglutaric acid dehydrogenase (L2HGDH) deficiency. @cri-utsw.bsky.social. www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

Happy to share that our very own Justin Engel (@justeng95.bsky.social) received the 2025 Nominata Award, the highest honor for a graduate student at UT Southwestern. He also received the Kirkpatrick Prize, which is given to the student with the most meritorious NIH NRSA proposal. Congrats Justin! 🎉

Happy Prom night from Dallas.

Colossal says they resurrected the direwolf. Why not bring back Jerry instead? www.youtube.com/watch?v=uejA...

It took me 5 tries to get a 200-word project description down to an 8th grade reading level (Flesch Reading Ease Score 64.3). Maybe I really am elitist.

1/My 7th grader's science homework is to learn the elements Memorize atomic masses. She points out that carbon has a mass of 12. My life passes before my eyes. Finally, my chance to explain what I've been doing for 20 yrs. So I say, kind of casually, "you know, sometimes carbon has a mass of 13..."

300+ papers, first research article to hit the cover. Thank you Cancer Discovery!

Farewell to our QTOF after many years. So much data. Adios amigo.

www.quantamagazine.org/how-metaboli... Seems like a good time to remind you of an upcoming meeting on this exact topic: www.keystonesymposia.org/conferences/...

Been on Bluesky for a few months now. My feed: 25% science, 25% “world news” (let’s call it that) and 50% pictures of owls and red foxes. It’s pretty good so far.

If you are immigrant into the US and work in the biomedical sciences (like me) and are still young (not like me), please apply for the Vilcek prizes for Creative Promise founded by an inspiring immigrant couple, Marica and Jan Vilcek. vilcek.org/prizes/vilce...

1/Happy to share a new paper reporting a metabolic approach to radiosensitization in lung cancer, from Rachel Chiang, Faith Zhang and colleagues at UT Southwestern Radiation Oncology and @cri-utsw.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Metabolic & Nutritional Control of Development and Cell Fate is just around the corner. Register by March 20 (11:59pm MST) and snag a $200 discount! Don't miss our incredible speaker lineup! 👉 keysym.us/KSMetabDev25. #KSMetabDev25 youtu.be/CSto4rJv40I @lydiafinley.bsky.social @rjdlab.bsky.social

Save the Date! Cancer Molecular Therapeutics Research Association Annual Meeting in Utah July 13-17. Please register today. Incredible line up of speakers: RT! @andreaventura.bsky.social @rjdlab.bsky.social #lcsm

So … anybody know what’s up with NCBI today?

Recognizing Rare Disease Awareness Day 2025 at UT Southwestern, with teams from the Genetic & Metabolic Disease Program @cri-utsw.bsky.social and the McDermott Center. We work to find causes & treatments for rare diseases. 25-30 million Americans have a "rare" disease - our mission is to help them.

Another great day for #relentlessdiscovery & #CancerResearch: 🟠 Sam McBrayer, Ph.D., received $1.19M to study developmental origins of IDH-mutant glioma in adolescents 🟠 Michalis Agathocleous, Ph.D., received $900K to study role of glutathione in leukemia development from CPRIT 🧪 shorturl.at/pgKmG

1/I am delighted to share a new Cancer Discovery paper about metabolism and clinical outcomes in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). From Ling Cai and Brandon @faubert.bsky.social, @cri-utsw.bsky.social and UT Southwestern McDermott Center.

Why am I getting into an argument with a 13 year old about why Sabrina Carpenter isn’t like Taylor Swift? I know I’m right, but I will still lose.

Very impressive application of epigenetic editing from Chroma. Congrats @jaffeab and team. -RJD

The greatest moment I have ever had at a scientific conference. Thanks Abcam.

Congrats Gerta! We are proud of you!

Proud to see this #relentlessdiscovery, by @rjdlab.bsky.social & colleages, visualized about how mitochondrial ETC is much more active in tumors that have metastasized than in tumors still growing in the kidney. Watch ⬇️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pmz... or read more ➡️ cri.utsw.edu/kidney-cance... 🧪

I hope you will join @lydiafinley.bsky.social and me for two days of great science on metabolic support of development and cell fate. Deadline for scholarships and short talk abstracts is Feb. 6.

Happy snow day (ish) from your friends at UT Southwestern Medical Center