Metabolism

Studying the chemistry of life and its disruption in human disease.

Metabolism

Launched in 2016, the Morgridge Metabolism Theme has already made a great impact on UW–Madison and beyond. We are serving as a collaborative hub for more than 500 metabolism scientists on campus.

Our established programs are continuing, including:

We look forward to continuing to build on the momentum already established within the metabolism community here in Madison.

Metabolism is the set of life-giving biochemical reactions that enable our cells to grow, develop, and achieve physiological homeostasis. Recent discoveries have revealed that disrupted metabolism underlies a broad swath of both rare and prominent human diseases. In collaboration with UW–Madison via the broader Morgridge Metabolism Initiative, Investigators in the Morgridge Metabolism theme are dedicated to elucidating the basic molecular and genetic aspects of metabolism toward improving metabolic health.

Often called the “chemistry of life,” metabolism provides the fuel for all cellular activities and goes awry in most human diseases.

Jing Fan’s laboratory is interested in understanding how mammalian cellular metabolism is reprogrammed in response to changes in cellular state (e.g. immune activation) and environments, and how activities in key metabolic pathways can affect cell physiology.

Jason Cantor’s lab has broad interests in modeling, understanding, and exploiting the impact of environmental factors on human cell metabolism, with a particular focus on hematological cancers and normal lymphocytes.

Melissa Skala’s lab develops optical imaging tools to monitor metabolism at the single cell level. These tools are used in living cells, animal models, and patient samples to improve cancer treatment

The Josh Coon Lab facilitates expedient, comprehensive systems analysis at the molecular level to advance biomedical, biofuel, and biochemical research.

Melissa Skala

Jason Cantor

Jing Fan

Josh Coon