Cancer metabolism revealed through mass spectrometry and isotope tracing
Official title: Revealing cancer metabolism via mass spectrometry and isotope tracers
Funded at Princeton University · NIH-11447542 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A scientist team at Princeton will study how cancer cells use nutrients by analyzing metabolites with advanced mass spectrometry and labeled tracers.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Princeton University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Princeton, UNITED STATES) |
| Project start | September 19, 2016 |
| Project end | August 31, 2031 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $165,542 |
| NIH project number | 2R50CA211437-11 |
| Project ID | NIH-11447542 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Researchers are seeking to improve techniques that could later be applied to cancer patients and tumor samples; direct patient participation is not described in this grant.
✕Less likely to help
This grant does not require or describe direct patient participation in the research activities.
What this research studies
Researchers will optimize metabolomics and fluxomics methods to detect hard-to-measure metabolites in scarce tumor-infiltrating cells, explore novel cancer-related metabolites using untargeted approaches and AI language models, and advance imaging mass spectrometry to map metabolites in tumor tissue. The work builds on isotope tracing to quantify how tumors process nutrients, with collaboration from Rutgers and other institutions. This five-year effort aims to make measurements more precise and spatially resolved to better understand cancer metabolism.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, patients could benefit from more precise metabolic profiling of tumors, potentially guiding personalized treatment strategies.
How similar studies have gone: Previous work in cancer metabolism has established that metabolic tracing and imaging mass spectrometry can yield meaningful insights, suggesting potential for translation.
Where this research is happening
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Princeton University
Princeton, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Lu, Wenyun — Princeton University
- Study coordinator: Lu, Wenyun
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.