2026

Unlu G, Millet A, Wangdu K, Donné R, Erdal R, DelGaudio NL, Uygur B, et al. Tumor genotype dictates mitochondrial and immune vulnerabilities in liver cancer. 2026. Science.

Nakamura, T., Inoki, A., Das, N.K., Chen, B., Khan, A., Liu, Y., Uygur, B., Yen, F.S., Unlu, G., Shah, Y.M., and Birsoy, K.*Cysteine excess triggers a mitochondrial iron-dependent cell death. Nature Metabolism. 2026

Liu, S., Gad, M., Li, C., Cho, K., Liu, Y., Wangdu, K., Belay, V., Millet, A., Kojima, H., Sanford, H., Wölk, M., Urnavicius, L., Fedorova, M., Patti, G.J., Vinogradova, E.V., Hite, R.K.,* and Birsoy, K.* SLC33A1 exports oxidized glutathione to maintain endoplasmic reticulum redox homeostasis.  Nature Cell Biology. England; 2026.

2025

Yeh HW, DelGaudio NL, Uygur B, Millet A, Khan A, Unlu G, Xiao M and Birsoy K. Mitochondrial glutathione import enables breast cancer metastasis via integrated stress response signaling. Cancer Discovery. United States; 2025;15(12):2437–2449.

Khan A, Yen FS, Unlu G, DelGaudio NL, Erdal R, Xiao M, Wangdu K and Birsoy K. Machine-learning-guided discovery of SLC25A45 as a mediator of mitochondrial methylated amino acid import and carnitine synthesis. Cell Metabolism.United States; 2025;37(11):2220–2232.e8.

Calhoon D, Sang L, Ji F, Bezwada D, Hsu SC, Cai F, Kim N, Basu A, et al. Glycosaminoglycan-driven lipoprotein uptake protects tumours from ferroptosis. Nature. England; 2025;644(8077):799–808.

Khan A, Liu Y, Gad M, Kenny T and Birsoy K.* Solute carriers: Gatekeepers of metabolism. Cell. United States.

Kenny TC, Birsoy K. Succinate puts the brakes on de novo purine synthesis. Molecular Cell. United States; 2025;85(22):4109–4110.

Kenny TC, Scharenberg S, Abu-Remaileh M and Birsoy K.* Cellular and organismal function of choline metabolism. Nature Metabolism. Germany; 2025 Jan;8(4):35–52.

Erdal R, Birsoy K, Unlu G. Amino acid metabolism in liver mitochondria: from homeostasis to disease. Metabolites. Switzerland; 2025;15(7):446.

2024

Soula M, Unlu G, Welch R, Chudnovskiy A, Uygur B, Shah V, Alwaseem H, Bunk P, Subramanyam V, Yeh HW, Khan A, Heissel S, Goodarzi H, Victora GD, Beyaz S, Birsoy K.* Glycosphingolipid synthesis mediates immune evasion in KRAS-driven cancer. Nature. England; 2024 Aug 7; PMID: 39112706

Khan A, Unlu G, Lin P, Liu Y, Kilic E, Kenny TC, Birsoy K*, Gamazon ER*. Metabolic gene function discovery platform GeneMAP identifies SLC25A48 as necessary for mitochondrial choline import. Nat Genet. United States; 2024 Aug;56(8):1614–1623. PMID: 38977856

Son Y, Kenny TC, Khan A, Birsoy K, Hite RK. Structural basis of lipid head group entry to the Kennedy pathway by FLVCR1. Nature. England; 2024 May;629(8012):710–716. PMCID: PMC11188936

Timson RC, Khan A, Uygur B, Saad M, Yeh HW, DelGaudio NL, Weber R, Alwaseem H, Gao J, Yang C, Birsoy K.* Development of a mouse model expressing a bifunctional glutathione-synthesizing enzyme to study glutathione limitation in vivo. J Biol Chem. United States; 2024 Feb;300(2):105645. PMCID: PMC10869265

Berndt C, Alborzinia H, Amen VS, Ayton S, Barayeu U, Bartelt A, Bayir H, Bebber CM, Birsoy K, Böttcher JP, Brabletz S, Brabletz T, Brown AR, Brüne B, Bulli G, Bruneau A, Chen Q, DeNicola GM, Dick TP, Distéfano A, Dixon SJ, Engler JB, Esser-von Bieren J, Fedorova M, Friedmann Angeli JP, Friese MA, Fuhrmann DC, García-Sáez AJ, Garbowicz K, Götz M, Gu W, Hammerich L, Hassannia B, Jiang X, Jeridi A, Kang YP, Kagan VE, Konrad DB, Kotschi S, Lei P, Le Tertre M, Lev S, Liang D, Linkermann A, Lohr C, Lorenz S, Luedde T, Methner A, Michalke B, Milton AV, Min J, Mishima E, Müller S, Motohashi H, Muckenthaler MU, Murakami S, Olzmann JA, Pagnussat G, Pan Z, Papagiannakopoulos T, Pedrera Puentes L, Pratt DA, Proneth B, Ramsauer L, Rodriguez R, Saito Y, Schmidt F, Schmitt C, Schulze A, Schwab A, Schwantes A, Soula M, Spitzlberger B, Stockwell BR, Thewes L, Thorn-Seshold O, Toyokuni S, Tonnus W, Trumpp A, Vandenabeele P, Vanden Berghe T, Venkataramani V, Vogel FCE, von Karstedt S, Wang F, Westermann F, Wientjens C, Wilhelm C, Wölk M, Wu K, Yang X, Yu F, Zou Y, Conrad M. Ferroptosis in health and disease. Redox Biol. Netherlands; 2024 Sep;75:103211. PMCID: PMC11253697

Gates LA, Reis BS, Lund PJ, Paul MR, Leboeuf M, Djomo AM, Nadeem Z, Lopes M, Vitorino FN, Unlu G, Carroll TS, Birsoy K, Garcia BA, Mucida D, Allis CD. Histone butyrylation in the mouse intestine is mediated by the microbiota and associated with regulation of gene expression. Nature Metab. Germany; 2024 Apr;6(4):697–707. PMID: 38413806

Kenny TC, Birsoy K.* Mitochondria and Cancer. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med. United States; 2024 May 1;a041534. PMID: 38692736

2023

Liu Y, Liu S, Tomar A, Yen FS, Unlu G, Ropek N, Weber RA, Wang Y, Khan A, Gad M, Peng J, Terzi E, Alwaseem H, Pagano AE, Heissel S, Molina H, Allwein B, Kenny TC, Possemato RL, Zhao L, Hite RK, Vinogradova EV, Mansy SS, Birsoy K.* Autoregulatory control of mitochondrial glutathione homeostasis. Science. United States; 2023 Nov 17;382(6672):820–828. PMCID: PMC11170550

Kenny TC, Khan A, Son Y, Yue L, Heissel S, Sharma A, Pasolli HA, Liu Y, Gamazon ER, Alwaseem H, Hite RK, Birsoy K.* Integrative genetic analysis identifies FLVCR1 as a plasma-membrane choline transporter in mammals. Cell Metab.2023 Jun 6;35(6):1057-1071.e12. PMCID: PMC10367582

Liu Y, Birsoy K.* Metabolic sensing and control in mitochondria. Mol Cell. United States; 2023 Mar 16;83(6):877–889. PMCID: PMC10332353

Kerk SA, Garcia-Bermudez J, Birsoy K, Sherman MH, Shah YM, Lyssiotis CA. Spotlight on GOT2 in Cancer Metabolism. OncoTargets Ther. New Zealand; 2023;16:695–702. PMCID: PMC10460182

Birsoy K, Chandel NS, Fendt SM, Green DR, Li X, Muoio DM. Challenges and opportunities in targeting metabolism. Cell Chem Biol. United States; 2023 Sep 21;30(9):999–1001. PMID: 37738954

2022

Unlu G, Prizer B, Erdal R, Yeh HW, Bayraktar EC, Birsoy K.* Metabolic-scale gene activation screens identify SLCO2B1 as a heme transporter that enhances cellular iron availability. Mol Cell. 2022 Aug 4;82(15):2832-2843.e7. PMCID: PMC9356996

Garcia-Bermudez J, Badgley MA, Prasad S, Baudrier L, Liu Y, La K, Soula M, Williams RT, Yamaguchi N, Hwang RF, Taylor LJ, de Stanchina E, Rostandy B, Alwaseem H, Molina H, Bar-Sagi D, Birsoy K.* Adaptive stimulation of macropinocytosis overcomes aspartate limitation in cancer cells under hypoxia. Nature Metab. Germany; 2022 Jun;4(6):724–738. PMCID: PMC9678334

2021

Wang Y, Yen FS, Zhu XG, Timson RC, Weber R, Xing C, Liu Y, Allwein B, Luo H, Yeh HW, Heissel S, Unlu G, Gamazon ER, Kharas MG, Hite R, Birsoy K.* SLC25A39 is necessary for mitochondrial glutathione import in mammalian cells. Nature. 2021 Nov;599(7883):136–140.

Garcia-Bermudez J. and Birsoy K.* (2021). A mitochondrial gatekeeper that helps cells escape death by ferroptosis. Nature 593: 514-515.

Liu Y. and Birsoy K.* (2021). Asparagine, a key metabolite in cellular response to mitochondrial dysfunction. Trends in Cancer 7(6): 479-481.

Soula M. and Birsoy K.* (2021). STACKing the odds for discoveries. Nature Chemical Biologyhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-021-00743-4

Zhu X.G., Chudnovskiy A., Baudrier L., Prizer B., Liu Y., Ostendorf B.N., Yamaguchi N., Arab A., Tavora B., Timson R., Heissel S., de Stanchina E., Molina H., Victora G.D., Goodarzi H., Birsoy K.* (2021) Functional Genomics In Vivo Reveal Metabolic Dependencies of Pancreatic Cancer Cells. Cell Metab 33(1): 211-221.

2020

Guarecuco R., Williams R.T., Baudrier L., La K, Passarelli M.C., Ekizoglu N., Mestanoglu M., Alwaseem H., Rostandy B., Fidelin J., Garcia-Bermudez J., Molina H, Birsoy K.* (2020). Dietary thiamine influences l-asparaginase sensitivity in a subset of leukemia cells. Science Advances. 6(41).

Soula M., Weber R.A., Zilka O., Alwaseem H., La K., Yen F., Molina H., Garcia-Bermudez J., Pratt D.A. and Birsoy K.*(2020) Metabolic determinants of cancer cell sensitivity to canonical ferroptosis inhibitors. Nature Chemical Biology16(12):1351-1360.

Parsa s., Ortega-Molina A., Ying H., Jiang M., Teater M., Wang J., Zhao C., Reznik E., Pasion J.P., Kuo D., Mohan P., Wang S., Camarillo J.M., Thomas P.M., Jain N., Garcia-Bermudez J., Cho B., Tam W., Kelleher N.L., Socci N., Dogan A., De Stanchina E., Ciriello G., Green M.R., Li S., Birsoy K., Melnick A.M., Wendel H.G. (2020) The serine hydroxymethyltransferase-2 (SHMT2) initiates lymphoma development through epigenetic tumor suppressor silencing.Nature Cancer 1(6): 653-664.

Bayraktar E. C., La K., Karpman K., Unlu G., Ozerdem C., Ritter D. J., Alwaseem H., Molina H., Hoffmann H. H., Millner A., Atilla-Gokcumen G. E., Gamazon E. R., Rushing A. R., Knapik E. W., Basu S. and Birsoy K.* (2020). Metabolic co-essentiality mapping identifies c12orf49 as a regulator of SREBP processing and
cholesterol metabolism. Nature Metab 2(6): 487-498.

Hedbacker K., Lu Y., Dallner O., Li Z., Fayzikhodjaeva G., Birsoy K., Han C., Yang C., Friedman J.M. (2020) Limitation of adipose tissue by the number of embryonic progenitor cells. eLife 9: e53074

Surface L.E., Burrow D.T., Li J., Park J., Kumar S., Lyu C., Song N., Yu Z., Rajagopal A., Bae Y., Lee B.H., Mumm S., Gu C.C., Baker J.C., Mohseni M., Sum M., Huskey M., Duan S., Bijanki V.N., Civitelli R., Gardner M.J., McAndrew C.M., Ricci W.M., Gurnett C.A., Diemer K., Wan F., Costantino C.L., Shannon K.M., Raje N., Dodson T.B., Haber D.A., Carette J.E., Varadarajan M., Brummelkamp T.R., Birsoy K., Sabatini D.M., Haller G., Peterson T.R.. (2020) ATRAID regulates the action of nitrogen-containing bisphosphonates on bone. Science Transl. Medicine 12(544).

Williams R. T., Guarecuco, R., Gates L. A., Barrows D., Passarelli M. C., Carey B., Baudrier L., Jeewajee S., La K., Prizer B., Malik S., Garcia-Bermudez J., Zhu X., Cantor J., Molina H., Carroll T., Roeder R. G., Abdel-Wahab O., Allis C. D. and Birsoy K.*. (2020). ZBTB1 Regulates Asparagine Synthesis and Leukemia Cell Response to L-Asparaginase.Cell Metab 31(4): 852-861.

Weber R. A., Yen F. S., Nicholson S. P. V., Alwaseem H., Bayraktar E. C., Alan M., Timson R. C., La K., Abu Remalieh M., Molina H. and Birsoy K.*. (2020). Maintaining iron homeostasis is the key role of lysosomal acidity for cell proliferation. Mol Cell 77(3): 645-655.

Garcia-Bermudez J., Williams R. T., Guarecuco R., Birsoy K.* (2020). Targeting extracellular nutrient dependencies of cancer cells. Mol Metab 33: 67-82.

Liberti M. and Birsoy K.* (2020). A link between metabolic energetics and pancreatic cancer mechanosensing. Nature Metab 2: 5-6.

2019

Weber R. and Birsoy K.* (2019). The Transsulfuration Pathway Makes, the Tumor Takes. Cell Metab 30(5): 845-846.

Zhu X. G. and Birsoy K.* Deciphering cellular heterogeneity of pancreatic tumours. Nat Cell Biol (2019). 21(11): 1305-1306.

Phillips R. E., Yang Y., Smith R. C., Thompson B. M., Yamasaki T., Soto-Feliciano Y. M., Funato K., Liang, Y.  Garcia-Bermudez J., Wang X., Garcia B. A., Yamasaki K., McDonald J. G., Birsoy K., Tabar V. and Allis C. D. (2019).  Target identification reveals lanosterol synthase as a vulnerability in glioma. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 116(16): 7957-7962.

Birsoy K. and Sancak Y. (2019).  The role of metabolism in cellular processes. Mol Biol Cell 30(6): 733.

Zhu X. G., Nicholson Puthenveedu P., Shen Y., La K., Ozlu C., Wang T., Klompstra D., Gultekin Y., Chi J., Fidelin J., Peng T., Molina H., Hang H. C., Min W. and Birsoy K.* (2019). CHP1 Regulates Compartmentalized Glycerolipid Synthesis by Activating GPAT4. Mol Cell 74(1): 45-58.

Garcia-Bermudez J., Baudrier L., Bayraktar E. C., Shen Y., La K., Guarecuco R., Yucel B., Fiore D., Tavora B., Freinkman E., Chan S. H., Lewis C., Min W., Inghirami G., Sabatini D. M. and Birsoy K.* (2019).  Squalene accumulation in cholesterol auxotrophic lymphomas prevents oxidative cell death. Nature 567(7746): 118-122.

Dallner O. S., Marinis J. M., Lu Y. H., Birsoy K., Werner E., Fayzikhodjaeva G., Dill B. D., Molina H., Moscati A., Kutalik Z., Marques-Vidal P., Kilpelainen T. O., Grarup N., Linneberg A., Zhang Y., Vaughan R., Loos R. J. F., Lazar M. A. and Friedman J. M. (2019). Dysregulation of a long noncoding RNA reduces leptin leading to a leptin-responsive form of obesity. Nat Med 25(3): 507-516.

Bayraktar E. C., Baudrier L., Ozerdem C., Lewis C. A., Chan S. H., Kunchok T., Abu-Remaileh M., Cangelosi A. L., Sabatini D. M., Birsoy K.* and Chen W. W. (2019).  MITO-Tag Mice enable rapid isolation and multimodal profiling of mitochondria from specific cell types in vivo. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 116(1): 303-312.

2018

Zhang M., Di Martino J. S., Bowman R. L., Campbell N. R., Baksh S. C., Simon-Vermot T., Kim I. S., Haldeman P., Mondal C., Yong-Gonzales V., Abu-Akeel M., Merghoub T., Jones D. R., Zhu X. G., Arora A., Ariyan C. E., Birsoy K., Wolchok J. D., Panageas K. S., Hollmann T., Bravo-Cordero J. J. and White R. M. (2018).  Adipocyte-Derived Lipids Mediate Melanoma Progression via FATP Proteins. Cancer Discov 8(8): 1006-1025.

Peng X., Chen Z., Farshidfar F., Xu X., Lorenzi P. L., Wang Y., Cheng F., Tan L., Mojumdar K., Du D., Ge Z., Li J., Thomas G. V., Birsoy K., Liu L., Zhang H., Zhao Z., Marchand C., Weinstein J. N.,Cancer Genome Atlas Research, Bathe O. F. and Liang H. (2018).  Molecular Characterization and Clinical Relevance of Metabolic Expression Subtypes in Human Cancers.  Cell Rep 23(1): 255-269 e254.

Minton D. R., Nam M., McLaughlin D. J., Shin J., Bayraktar E. C., Alvarez S. W., Sviderskiy V. O., Papagiannakopoulos T., Sabatini D. M., Birsoy K.* and Possemato R*. (2018).  Serine Catabolism by SHMT2 Is Required for Proper Mitochondrial Translation Initiation and Maintenance of Formylmethionyl-tRNAs. Mol Cell 69(4): 610-621 e615.

Garcia-Bermudez J., Baudrier L., La K., Zhu X. G., Fidelin J., Sviderskiy V. O., Papagiannakopoulos T., Molina H., Snuderl M., Lewis C. A., Possemato R. L. and Birsoy K.* (2018).  Aspartate is a limiting metabolite for cancer cell proliferation under hypoxia and in tumours. Nat Cell Biol 20(7): 775-781.

Dubard Gault M., Mandelker D., DeLair D., Stewart C. R., Kemel Y., Sheehan M. R., Siegel B., Kennedy J., Marcell V., Arnold A., Al-Ahmadie H., Modak S., Robson M., Shukla N., Roberts S., Vijai J., Topka S., Kentsis A., Cadoo K., Carlo M., Latham Schwark A., Reznik E., Dinatale R., Hechtman J., Borras Flores E., Jairam S., Yang C., Li Y., Bayraktar E. C., Ceyhan-Birsoy O., Zhang L., Kohlman W., Schiffman J., Stadler Z., Birsoy K., Kung A., Offit K. and Walsh M. F. (2018).  Germline SDHA mutations in children and adults with cancer. Cold Spring Harb Mol Case Stud 4(4).

2017

Secco B., Camire E., Briere M. A., Caron A., Billong A., Gelinas Y., Lemay A. M., Tharp K. M., Lee P. L., S. Gobeil, Guimond J. V., Patey N., Guertin D. A., Stahl A., Haddad E., Marsolais D., Bosse Y., Birsoy K. and Laplante M. (2017).  Amplification of Adipogenic Commitment by VSTM2A. Cell Rep 18(1): 93-106.

Reczek, C. R., Birsoy K., Kong H., Martinez-Reyes I., Wang T., Gao P., Sabatini D. M. and Chandel N. S. (2017).  A CRISPR screen identifies a pathway required for paraquat-induced cell death. Nat Chem Biol 13(12): 1274-1279.

Ilic N., Birsoy K., Aguirre A. J., Kory N., Pacold M. E., Singh S., Moody S. E., DeAngelo J. D., Spardy N. A., Freinkman E., Weir B. A., Tsherniak A., Cowley G. S., Root D. E., Asara J. M., Vazquez F., Widlund H. R., Sabatini D. M. and Hahn W. C. (2017).  PIK3CA mutant tumors depend on oxoglutarate dehydrogenase. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 114(17): E3434-E3443.

Alvarez S. W., Sviderskiy V. O., Terzi E. M., Papagiannakopoulos T., Moreira A. L., Adams S., Sabatini D. M.*, Birsoy K.* and Possemato R.* (2017).  NFS1 undergoes positive selection in lung tumours and protects cells from ferroptosis.Nature 551(7682): 639-643.

2016

Pacold M. E., Brimacombe K. R., Chan S. H., Rohde J. M., Lewis C. A., Swier L. J., Possemato R., Chen W. W., Sullivan L. B., Fiske B. P., Cho S., Freinkman E., Birsoy K., Abu-Remaileh M., Shaul Y. D., Liu C. M., Zhou M., Koh M. J., Chung H., Davidson S. M., Luengo A., Wang A. Q., Xu X., Yasgar, Liu L., Rai G., Westover K. D., Vander Heiden M. G., Shen M., Gray N. S., Boxer M. B. and Sabatini D. M. (2016).  A PHGDH inhibitor reveals coordination of serine synthesis and one-carbon unit fate. Nat Chem Biol 12(6): 452-458.

Garcia-Bermudez J. and Birsoy K.* (2016).  Drugging ACAT1 for Cancer Therapy. Mol Cell 64(5): 856-857.

Chidley C., Trauger S. A., Birsoy K. and O'Shea E. K. (2016).  The anticancer natural product ophiobolin A induces cytotoxicity by covalent modification of phosphatidylethanolamine. Elife 5.

Chen W. W., Freinkman E., Wang T., Birsoy K. and Sabatini D. M. (2016).  Absolute Quantification of Matrix Metabolites Reveals the Dynamics of Mitochondrial Metabolism. Cell 166(5): 1324-1337 e1311.

2015

Wang T., Birsoy K., Hughes N. W., Krupczak K. M., Post Y., Wei J. J., Lander E. S. and Sabatini D. M. (2015).  Identification and characterization of essential genes in the human genome. Science 350(6264): 1096-1101.

Lu Y. H., Dallner O. S., Birsoy K., Fayzikhodjaeva G. and Friedman J. M. (2015).  Nuclear Factor-Y is an adipogenic factor that regulates leptin gene expression. Mol Metab 4(5): 392-405.

Birsoy K., Freinkman E., Kami K., Possemato R. L., Chudnovsky Y., Pacold M. E., Chen W. W., Cantor J. R., Shelton L. M., Gui D. Y., Kwon M., Ramkissoon S. H., Ligon K. L., Kang S. W., Snuderl M., Vander Heiden M. G. and Sabatini D. M. (2015).  SHMT2 drives glioma cell survival in ischaemia but imposes a dependence on glycine clearance. Nature520(7547): 363-367.

Birsoy K., Wang T., Chen W. W., Freinkman E., Abu-Remaileh M. and Sabatini D. M. (2015).  An Essential Role of the Mitochondrial Electron Transport Chain in Cell Proliferation Is to Enable Aspartate Synthesis. Cell 162(3): 540-551.