Ralph DeBerardinis

Ralph DeBerardinis at UT Southwestern has revolutionized the study of cancer metabolism through isotope tracing techniques applied first in cell culture and then in human patients in vivo, providing unprecedented insight into how human tumors metabolize nutrients. His research has demonstrated that lung cancer cells avidly use glutamine and lactate, challenging the view that aerobic glycolysis is the dominant metabolic program in all tumors. He has developed methods to assess tumor metabolism directly in patients during surgery through isotopically labeled infusions. His work has fundamentally advanced the understanding of tumor metabolic heterogeneity in human cancers.