Philip L. Lorenzi

Philip L. Lorenzi is a leading expert at the intersection of cancer metabolomics, CRISPR functional genomic screening, and drug target discovery at MD Anderson Cancer Center. His laboratory has harnessed genome-scale CRISPR loss-of-function and activation screens to map metabolic vulnerabilities in cancer cells, identifying novel drug targets in nucleotide biosynthesis, one-carbon metabolism, and amino acid catabolism that are selectively essential in defined cancer genotypes. Lorenzi played a key role in the NCI's Cancer Dependency Map (DepMap) initiative at MD Anderson, contributing metabolomic characterizations that linked metabolite profiles to gene essentiality patterns and drug sensitivity across hundreds of cancer cell lines. His CRISPR screens have identified synthetic lethal partners for KRAS, MYC, and other undruggable oncogenes in metabolic pathways, opening avenues for indirect targeting strategies. He has also contributed to the pharmacological characterization of L-asparaginase preparations and asparagine synthetase as drug targets in hematologic malignancies, and developed metabolomic biomarker assays for clinical trials. With over 150 publications, Lorenzi exemplifies how integration of genome-scale functional genomics and metabolomics is accelerating the identification of new oncology drug targets.