Almut Schulze

Almut Schulze focuses on the role of FA and cholesterol synthesis in supporting cancer cell growth and survival using a combination of functional genetic screening and metabolomics/lipidomics. Her work has demonstrated that LD formation in cancer cells is controlled by genetic and environmental cues and that altered lipid metabolism induces sensitivity towards oxidative stress and lipotoxicity in cancer.

ORCID: 0000-0002-8199-6422

almut.schulze[at]dkfz-heidelberg.de

Schulze lab

Select Publications

Targeting aldolase A in hepatocellular carcinoma leads to imbalanced glycolysis and energy stress due to uncontrolled FBP accumulation
Snaebjornsson, M. T., Poeller, P., Komkova, D., Rohrig, F., Schlicker, L., Winkelkotte, A. M., Chaves-Filho, A. B., Al-Shami, K. M., Caballero, C. D., Koltsaki, I., Vogel, F. C. E., Frias-Soler, R. C., Rudalska, R., Schwarz, J. D., Wolf, E., Dauch, D., Steuer, R. & Schulze, A
Nat Metab 7:348-366 2025
doi: 10.1038/s42255-024-01201-w PMID: 39833612 PMCID: PMC11860237

MiR-205-driven downregulation of cholesterol biosynthesis through SQLE-inhibition identifies therapeutic vulnerability in aggressive prostate cancer
Kalogirou C, Linxweiler J, Schmucker P, Snaebjornsson MT, Schmitz W, Wach S, Krebs M, Hartmann E, Puhr M, Muller A, Spahn M, Seitz AK, Frank T, Marouf H, Buchel G, Eckstein M, Kubler H, Eilers M, Saar M, Junker K, Rohrig F, Kneitz B, Rosenfeldt MT, Schulze A
Nat Commun 12:5066 2021
doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-25325-9 PMID: 34417456 PMCID: PMC8379214

Mevalonate pathway provides ubiquinone to maintain pyrimidine synthesis and survival in p53-deficient cancer cells exposed to metabolic stress
Kaymak I, Maier CR, Schmitz W, Campbell A, Dankworth B, Ade CP, Walz S, Paauwe M, Kalogirou C, Marouf H, Rosenfeldt M, Gay DM, McGregor G, Sansom OJ, Schulze A
Cancer Res 80(2):189-203 2020
doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-19-0650 PMID: 31744820

FSP1 is a glutathione-independent ferroptosis suppressor
Doll S, Freitas FP, Shah R, Aldrovandi M, Costa da Silva M, Ingold I, Goya Grocin A, Xavier da Silva T, Panzilius E, Scheel C, Mourão A, Buday K, Sato M, Wanninger J, Vignane T, Mohana V, Rehberg M, Flatley A, Schepers A, Kurz N, White D, Sauer M, Sattler M, Tate E, Schmitz W, Schulze A, O’Donnell V, Proneth B, Popowicz G, Pratt D, Friedmann Angeli JP, Conrad M
Nature 575(7784):693-698 2019
doi: doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1707-0 PMID: 31634899

The MYC Oncogene Cooperates with Sterol-Regulated Element-Binding Protein to Regulate Lipogenesis Essential for Neoplastic Growth
Gouw AM, Margulis K, Liu NS, Raman SJ, Mancuso A, Toal GG, Tong L, Mosley A, Hsieh AL, Sullivan DK, Stine ZE, Altman BJ, Schulze A, Dang CV, Zare RN, Felsher DW
Cell Metab 30(3):556-572.e5 2019
doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2019.07.012 PMID: 31447321 PMCID: PMC6911354

Acetyl-CoA synthetase 2 promotes acetate utilization and maintains cancer cell growth under metabolic stress
Schug ZT, Peck B, Jones DT, Zhang Q, Grosskurth S, Alam IS, Goodwin LM, Smethurst E, Mason S, Blyth K, McGarry L, James D, Shanks E, Kalna G, Saunders RE, Jiang M, Howell M, Lassailly F, Thin MZ, Spencer-Dene B, Stamp G, van den Broek NJ, Mackay G, Bulusu V, Kamphorst JJ, Tardito S, Strachan D, Harris AL, Aboagye EO, Critchlow SE, Wakelam MJ, Schulze A, Gottlieb E
Cancer Cell 27(1):57-71 2015
doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2014.12.002 PMID: 25584894 PMCID: PMC4297291

Functional metabolic screen identifies 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose-2,6-biphosphatase 4 as an important regulator of prostate cancer cell survival
Ros S, Santos CR, Moco S, Baenke F, Kelly G, Howell M, Zamboni N, Schulze A
Cancer Discov 2(4):328-343 2012
doi: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-11-0234 PMID: 22576210

SREBP activity is regulated by mTORC1 and contributes to Akt-dependent cell growth
Porstmann T, Santos CR, Griffiths B, Cully M, Wu M, Leevers S, Griffiths JR, Chung YL, Schulze A
Cell Metab 8(3):224-236 2008
doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2008.07.007 PMID: 18762023 PMCID: PMC2593919

Analysis of the transcriptional program induced by Raf in epithelial cells
Schulze A, Lehmann K, Jefferies HB, McMahon M, Downward J
Genes Dev 15(8):981-994 2001
doi: 10.1101/gad.191101 PMID: 11316792 PMCID: PMC312671

Cell cycle regulation of the cyclin A gene promoter is mediated by a variant E2F site
Schulze A, Zerfass K, Spitkovsky D, Middendorp S, Berges J, Helin K, Jansen-Durr P, Henglein B
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 92:11264-11268 1995
doi: 10.1073/pnas.92.24.11264 PMID: 7479977 PMCID: PMC4061

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