Eunus S. Ali, Ph.D.

This small study has been kind of seminal and probably, a landmark study. Low intracellular calcium generates more lipid droplets in cytoplasm :-(. Lots of high-profile papers came out from different lab based on this discovery. portlandpress.com/biochemj/art...

JCI - RSK1-driven TRIM28/E2F1 feedback loop promotes castration-resistant prostate cancer progression www.jci.org/articles/vie...

About twenty calcium signaling proteins were identified, including those involved in regulating calcium concentrations in the cytoplasm, endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria.

www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/12...

www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/12...

I'm extremely thrilled to announce that I will be starting as a group leader at Stanford this upcoming fall! My lab will be studying how RNAs exert themselves in the cell to induce a multitude of biological phenomena using ML, cryoEM/ET, and biochemistry!

www.yousufakhan.com

Ribonucleotide reductase regulatory subunit M2 drives glioblastoma TMZ resistance through modulation of dNTP production Ribonucleotide reductase subunit M2-mediated dGTP and dCTP production promotes resistance to standard-of-care chemotherapy in GBM.

Ribonucleotide reductase regulatory subunit M2 drives glioblastoma TMZ resistance through modulation of dNTP production | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/full/10....

Impaired Ca2+ signaling due to hepatic steatosis mediates hepatic insulin resistance in Alström syndrome mice that is reversed by GLP-1 analog treatment | American Journal of Physiology-Cell Physiology | American Physiological Society Ca2+ signaling plays a critical role in the regulation of hepatic metabolism by hormones including insulin. Changes in cytoplasmic Ca2+ regulate synthesis and posttranslational modification of key signaling proteins in the insulin pathways. Emerging evidence suggests that hepatocyte intracellular Ca2+ signaling is altered in lipid-loaded liver cells isolated from obese rodent models. The mechanisms of altered Ca2+-insulin and insulin-Ca2+ signaling pathways in obesity remain poorly understood. Here, we show that the kinetics of insulin-initiated intracellular (initial) Ca2+ release from endoplasmic reticulum is significantly impaired in steatotic hepatocytes from obese Alström syndrome mice. Furthermore, exenatide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) analog, reversed lipid-induced inhibition of intracellular Ca2+ release kinetics in steatotic hepatocytes, without affecting the total content of intracellular Ca2+ released. Exenatide reversed the lipid-induced inhibition of intracellular Ca2+ release, at least partially, via lipid reduction in hepatocytes, which then restored hormone-regulated cytoplasmic Ca2+ signaling and insulin sensitivity. This data provides additional evidence for the important role of Ca2+ signaling pathways in obesity-associated impaired hepatic lipid homeostasis and insulin signaling. It also highlights a potential advantage of GLP-1 analogs when used to treat type 2 diabetes associated with hepatic steatosis.

journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10....

doi.org/10.1016/j.mo...

Calcium Signaling As a Therapeutic Target for Liver Steatosis Hepatic steatosis, the first step in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), can arise from various pathophysiological conditions. While lipid metabolism in the liver is normally balanced such that ...

Calcium Signaling As a Therapeutic Target for Liver Steatosis: Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism www.cell.com/trends/endoc...

Deranged hepatocyte intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis and the progression of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease to hepatocellular carcinoma Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men, and the sixth in women. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease …

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Calcium Signaling As a Therapeutic Target for Liver Steatosis Hepatic steatosis, the first step in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), can arise from various pathophysiological conditions. While lipid metabolism in the liver is normally balanced such that ...

Calcium Signaling As a Therapeutic Target for Liver Steatosis: Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism www.cell.com/trends/endoc...

Calcium Signaling As a Therapeutic Target for Liver Steatosis Hepatic steatosis, the first step in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), can arise from various pathophysiological conditions. While lipid metabolism in the liver is normally balanced such that ...

Calcium Signaling As a Therapeutic Target for Liver Steatosis: Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism www.cell.com/trends/endoc...

Regulation of nucleotide metabolism in cancers and immune disorders Nucleotides are the fundamental building blocks for the preservation of life. As monomeric units, purine and pyrimidine nucleotides are polymerized into RNA and DNA. Mammalian cells require extracellu...

Regulation of nucleotide metabolism in cancers and immune disorders: Trends in Cell Biology www.cell.com/trends/cell-...

So grateful and excited to partner with the Stephenson Global Pancreatic Cancer Research Institute to advance our collaborative program targeting lysosome and Kras metabolism in pancreatic cancer!

michmed.org/rwVDK

Targeting cardiometabolic risk in type 1 diabetes through incretin physiology People living with type 1 diabetes have significantly increased cardiovascular risk compared with the general population. Traditional risk factors include hypertension, dyslipidaemia, and obesity. How...

Targeting cardiometabolic risk in type 1 diabetes through incretin physiology: Trends in Endocrinology & Metabolism www.cell.com/trends/endoc...

Itaconate promotes inflammatory responses in tissue-resident alveolar macrophages and exacerbates acute lung injury Shan et al. demonstrate that itaconate promotes proinflammatory cytokine production and NLRP3 inflammasome activation in alveolar macrophages, contrasting its anti-inflammatory role in BMDMs. Itaconat...

We used to know itaconate is an anti-inflammatory metabolite; but this article argues it can also act as pro-inflammatory in some situations: www.cell.com/cell-metabol...

Mitochondria complex III–generated superoxide is essential for IL-10 secretion in macrophages Mitochondrial ROS is necessary for the release of a critical anti-inflammatory cytokine.

Mitochondria complex III–generated superoxide is essential for IL-10 secretion in macrophages | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Mitochondria-organelle crosstalk in establishing compartmentalized metabolic homeostasis Mitochondria are metabolic hubs that communicate with other organelles via metabolite-, lipid-, and signaling-molecule exchange facilitated by membrane contact sites (MCSs). MCSs, regulated by tetheri...

Huge details are here about compartmentalized metabolic connection. Mitochondria-organelle crosstalk in establishing compartmentalized metabolic homeostasis: Molecular Cell www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

Mitochondria-organelle crosstalk in establishing compartmentalized metabolic homeostasis Mitochondria are metabolic hubs that communicate with other organelles via metabolite-, lipid-, and signaling-molecule exchange facilitated by membrane contact sites (MCSs). MCSs, regulated by tetheri...

Huge details are here about compartmentalized metabolic connection. Mitochondria-organelle crosstalk in establishing compartmentalized metabolic homeostasis: Molecular Cell www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

Frontiers | Landscape of targets within nucleoside metabolism for the modification of immune responses Nucleoside metabolism regulates immune cell development and function, but the therapeutic implications of this link have yet to be fully realized. Evidence f...

www.frontiersin.org/journals/onc...

Stepwise ATP translocation into the endoplasmic reticulum by human SLC35B1 - Nature SLC35B1, initially thought to be a nucleotide sugar transporter, is an essential ATP/ADP exchanger that imports ATP into the endoplasmic reticulum through a unique stepwise translocation mechanism.

So, how ER imports cytoplasmic ATP? www.nature.com/articles/s41...

PLA2G15 is a BMP hydrolase and its targeting ameliorates lysosomal disease - Nature Lysosomal phospholipase PLA2G15 was identified as a physiological BMP hydrolase whose activity depends on unique esterification and stereochemistry of BMP and offers a potential therapeutic targe...

Wonderful Monther and Team! It is good to see this excellent work in the published form.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Distinct roles for the thioredoxin and glutathione antioxidant systems in Nrf2-Mediated lung tumor initiation and progression Redox regulators are emerging as critical mediators of lung tumorigenesis. NRF2 and its negative regulator KEAP1 are commonly mutated in human lung ca…

🚨New paper alert! Led by former undergrad Amanda Sherwood @tophinogenesis.bsky.social (now PhD student at Northwestern), Amanda asked whether the glutathione or thioredoxin systems are necessary for NRF2's tumor-promoting effects in the lung. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

excited to share our latest work now online
@natmetabolism.nature.com, led by
@kyle-flickinger.bsky.social, where we unravel a mechanistic basis for the conditional essentiality of NADK, one of the many interesting hits from our previously reported CRISPR screening with HPLM rdcu.be/ekpu6

Shilatifard Elected to National Academy of Sciences - News Center Ali Shilatifard, PhD, the Robert Francis Furchgott Professor and chair of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

An extraordinary leader and science legend:
news.feinberg.northwestern.edu/2025/04/29/s...

Mitochondrial NADPH fuels mitochondrial fatty acid synthesis and lipoylation to power oxidative metabolism - Nature Cell Biology Kim et al. show that NAD+ kinase 2 serves as a source of mitochondrial NADPH to support mitochondrial fatty acid synthesis, protein lipoylation and mitochondrial oxidative metabolism.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Tumour interstitial fluid-enriched phosphoethanolamine suppresses T cell function Nature Cell Biology - Wang, Wilfahrt and colleagues show that phosphoethanolamine, a phospholipid intermediate, is enriched in tumour interstitial fluid and induces T cell dysfunction, in part by...

Excited to share new report from collaborative work from @delgoffelab.bsky.social and @patrickjonker.bsky.social from our team on a novel metabolic suppressor of T cell function in tumors! rdcu.be/eiyIa 1/

L-2-hydroxyglutarate impairs neuronal differentiation through epigenetic activation of MYC expression High levels of L- and D-2-hydroxyglutarate, the reduced forms of α-ketoglutarate (αKG), are implicated in human neurodevelopmental disorders and cancer. Both enantiomers exert effects on epigenetics b...

1/New pre-print from Wen Gu reporting enhanced self-renewal and defective neuronal differentiation in neural progenitor cells from patients with L-2-hydroxyglutaric acid dehydrogenase (L2HGDH) deficiency. @cri-utsw.bsky.social. www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

The Type 1 Diabetes Genetics Consortium (T1DGC) Abstract. Type 1 diabetes results from the autoimmune destruction of the insulin-producing beta cells. Genetic factors account for ∼50% of the risk for typ

An overview of the progress and contributions made by the Type 1 #Diabetes #Genetics Consortium #T1D academic.oup.com/jcem/advance...