Heather Christofk, Ph.D.

Christofk’s research focuses on the relationship between metabolism and cell state. She began her career studying how metabolism changes in different cell state transitions — during viral infection, stem cell differentiation and cancer formation. Her work has suggested a more bi-directional relationship between metabolism and cell state, whereby metabolism is altered to meet the changing demands during cell state transitions and in turn, metabolic changes can drive cell state transitions.

Challenging a long-held belief about cancer metabolism, Christofk discovered that squamous cell skin cancer cells do not require increased glucose to power their development and growth. This discovery could lead to the development of more effective therapies for this disease and other forms of epithelial cancer.

Christofk reported the first molecular mechanism by which a virus reprograms host cell metabolism and discovered how viruses such as Zika rewire metabolism to induce cell death in human but not mosquito cells. She has also identified similarities between metabolic reprogramming in tumor cells and virus-infected cells. These findings suggest that viruses can be useful tools in identifying new drugs targeting cancer metabolism and that these same newly identified drugs may be effective as antivirals.  

Her insights into how cell metabolism regulates and influences stem cell fate decisions have broad applications. Together with center member William Lowry, Ph.D., Christofk found that altering the metabolic processes of hair follicle stem cells can activate hair growth. This research may lead to new drugs that could help reverse hair loss for people experiencing baldness or alopecia. Christofk is applying these insights to determine if manipulating metabolic processes of hair follicle stem cells can stop the initiation and progression of skin cancers such as squamous cell carcinoma.

These findings provide a foundation for her ongoing work examining how metabolism impacts cell fate decisions in varied biological processes, including development and cancer.