Dr. Nathaniel Vacanti holds a B.S. (UConn, 2008) and M.S. (MIT, 2010) in chemical engineering, a doctorate in bioengineering (UCSD, 2015) and completed postdoctoral training in proteomics and bioinformatics (Karolinska Institutet, 2015-2018). He joined Cornell as an assistant professor of Molecular Nutrition in the Division of Nutritional Sciences in the autumn of 2018. His research group’s interests are broadly in proteome-wide adaptations driving metabolic plasticity in healthy and diseased tissue. More specifically, Dr. Vacanti looks to understand the regulatory mechanisms cells use to maintain a healthy metabolic homeostasis and which are hijacked or go awry upon the onset of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. If provided an understanding of these mechanisms, researchers may be more apt to develop effective therapeutic approaches in instances where patients have few options. For instance, Dr. Vacanti is currently studying how triple-negative breast tumor cells change their reliance on metabolic pathways to proliferate when access to oxygen is limited; similar to conditions at the center of a tumor. Identifying the proteins that facilitate these metabolic adaptations is a first step towards developing a therapy for this currently un-targetable class of breast tumors. Dr. Vacanti is new to the PACE program as of spring 2020 and looks forward to receiving mentorship from experienced participants as he builds an independent research program.