About the research

Epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is fundamental to cell development and a key feature in the progression of many cancers. EMT however remains a poorly understood cellular event primarily on account of biological complexity represented by biochemical alterations spanning the genomic, regulatory and metabolic levels. The genomic changes that take place during EMT are well defined. However, their impact on protein function and metabolism of EMT remains unclear. Herein, we propose a systems biology approach to define changes that occur in metabolism during EMT in breast epithelium through exploration of several in vitro EMT cell models. Through stable isotope 13C metabolite tracer analysis, we will investigate EMT metabolic phenotypes and relate these to changes in the proteome and phosphoproteome. This will be done in the context of genome scale metabolic network models (GEMs). GEMs can integrate the analysis of genomic, proteomic and metabolic data ultimately allowing the impact of metabolic alterations to be assessed in silico. The project will comprehensively define EMT metabolism and afford knowledge of how regulatory signals impact metabolism during EMT at the molecular level. In this manner novel biochemically based therapeutic interventions to combat cancer invasion will be realised and will be subject to in silico analysis prior to future laboratory evaluation.

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