Dr. Unlu studies how cancer cells adapt to nutrient limitations in their environment. High metabolic demands of proliferating cancer cells create metabolic bottlenecks for in vivo growth within solid tumors. Dietary and pharmacological interventions could provide unique opportunities to target such metabolic liabilities. However, studying tumor metabolism in vivo adds many layers of biological complexity, meaning these potential targets are currently poorly characterized. Dr. Unlu plans to combine metabolomics approaches and functional CRISPR screens to systematically identify metabolites limiting for in vivo tumor growth and metastasis.