Diogo Dias
Visiting student
I am a visiting PhD student in the Goding lab. I was an undergraduate student at the University of Lisbon, from where I also received my Master’s Degree for working in microbiology at the Gulbenkian Institute of Science.
My current project focuses on the role and regulation of a family of transcription factors in melanoma and their impact on cancer metabolism.
Cancer cells reprogram their metabolism in order to meet a high need for nutrients due to an uncontrolled proliferation. This altered state is recognised as a hallmark of cancer and presents a possible avenue of treatment by exploiting a tumour’s overreliance on specific nutrients and metabolic pathways for survival. The MiT/TFE transcription factor family members control some of these metabolic networks. Therefore, our investigation into how they regulate these processes can potentially help us understand how tumours adapt to environmental cues and how to best target these vulnerabilities.