"The Sontag Foundation Distinguished Scientist Award provides critical funding to allow us to better define the interface between cancer metabolism and epigenetics in childhood ependymomas. Our work will help understand the pathology of these devastating tumors to enable the development of effective therapeutic strategies to treat these tumors."

About DSA-Funded Research

The Venneti Lab studies the relationship between cancer metabolism and epigenetics in brain tumors. Oncogenes in primary brain tumors in adults and children reprogram uptake and metabolism of nutrients such as glucose and glutamine to modulate many cellular functions including epigenetics. His lab evaluates the effects of altered metabolism on histone and DNA methylation in brain tumors, such as gliomas with isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) 1/2 mutations, and diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPG) with histone H3K27M mutations.