Metabolic vulnerabilities of Diffuse Midline Glioma

Project title: Elucidating the Altered Metabolism of Diffuse Midline Glioma

Diffuse Midline Glioma (DGM) is a devastating childhood brain cancer that is currently incurable. Cancer cells require large amounts of energy because they grow and multiply so quickly. By studying Diffuse Midline Glioma cells in the lab, Dr. Cynthia Hawkins’s team has discovered that deprivation of certain nutrients prevents the growth of DMG cells without harming normal cells. They aim to discover more of these vulnerabilities in DMG cells and find out which ones might make DMG more responsive to currently used treatments. Importantly, nutrient levels in patients can be altered with diet, a non-invasive method with less impact on patient quality of life.