Professor Daniel Tennant, University of Birmingham, UK

Professor Daniel Tennant

Proline metabolism and the tumour microenvironment – essential lessons from a non-essential amino acid

Why do tumour cells synthesise non-essential amino acids when they are readily available in the microenvironment? This is a question that has led much of our research over the past few years, and brought us to study the metabolism of proline, an amino acid whose synthesis is intertwined with cellular redox homeostasis. In this talk, I will discuss how proline synthesis is important for maintaining mitochondrial redox homeostasis, how this is perturbed by oncogenic mutation and a hostile tumour microenvironment.