Focus On Research With Tom Cunningham, PhD

Tom Cunningham, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Cancer Biology, grew up in Louisville, Kentucky. He earned his undergraduate degree from Western Kentucky University and then enrolled in the Biochemistry, Cell, and Molecular Biology Program at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine to obtain his doctoral degree. However, midway through his PhD program, Cunningham’s thesis advisor Pere Puigserver moved from Johns Hopkins to Harvard Medical School and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. "I spent roughly half of my PhD in Baltimore and the other half in Boston,” he says. For his postdoctoral studies, Cunningham worked in the laboratory of Davide Ruggero at the University of California San Francisco at the Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center. He began as a faculty member at UC in February as the university’s first precision cancer cluster hire.   

What brought you to the University of Cincinnati?

"First of all, I recognized that I was presented with a phenomenal opportunity to achieve my ultimate career goal of running a first-class research laboratory here at the University of Cincinnati. There are countless things I had to consider when making the life-changing decision of where to begin my career as an independent investigator. The focus of my research would inevitably be influenced by the scientific environment around me, and my success would be determined not just by my own abilities but also by the willingness of my new colleagues and the leadership of the department and university to provide the necessary resources and advice to nurture my career during the early stages. I also felt that this opportunity did not limit the potential directions of my research, which was very important to me. Here at UC, I am in a very advantageous position where I can draw on the expertise of and collaborate with very basic scientists and chemists from departments on the undergraduate campus, or I can pursue very clinical translational projects through collaboration with researchers and doctors at UC Health or Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. It truly is the best of both worlds from a research standpoint.” 

Explain your research focus/projects.

"My research centers on understanding the mechanisms by which cancer cells acquire and use nutrients to promote their uncontrollable growth and expansion. My lab will use a variety of approaches drawing from the fields of genetics to basic biochemistry to molecular biology in order to explain the processes that cause this. Initially my work will stem from a key discovery made during my postdoctoral studies, where I showed that deregulation of a key enzyme in the nucleotide biosynthesis pathway was sufficient in initiating much of the metabolic re-wiring that is observed in cancer cells.” 

What are your thoughts on the cluster hiring initiative, as well as being the first official cluster hire? Can you explain how this will be different than a normal position?

"I believe the cluster hiring initiative, at least as it pertains to cancer biology, is an effort to stay ahead of the sea change that’s beginning to occur in our field. What I mean by this is there is a lot of momentum, from the perspectives of basic and clinical cancer research, to leap forward into the era of personalized medicine. With regard to cancer biology, this means that systems level approaches such as genomics, metabolomics, proteomics, etc. are seen as both the path to novel discoveries that can reshape the way we think about cancer as a disease, as well as a vehicle to inform clinical decision-making. With my expertise in metabolomics—the systematic study of the chemical composition of cells—I fit in well with a team of established researchers here at UC and at Cincinnati Children’s whose shared research interests can synergize and propel us to the forefront of this emerging field. 

"The goal in any position will always be the same—to run a first-class research laboratory. This means I expect to publish in top academic journals, bring in as much external funding possible, train the next generation of cancer researchers and make discoveries that have the potential to greatly impact our understanding and treatment of cancer along the way.” 

What are some other goals you hope to accomplish while here at UC? What types of collaborations are you hoping to form?

"One goal that I’m very eager to accomplish is to see the first trainee leave my lab a success, whether that be a graduate student earning his or her PhD and moving on to postdoctoral studies in a fantastic lab, or a postdoctoral fellow achieving career independence. In either case, I’ll be elated and proud to have this item checked off of my bucket list. 

"I’m excited to interact with anyone here that I feel I can learn from. For a collaboration to be successful, both parties must realize a benefit. Right now, I’m fairly open to seeing what’s available here at UC, but I’m sure as I begin to refine my research program’s focus, I’ll have a clearer picture of my needs and become ‘choosier.’ I touched on this earlier, but the real benefit of being here at UC is that I can seek out collaborations with very basic scientists on the undergraduate campus or clinicians at UC Health or Cincinnati Children’s." 

What do you like to do in your spare time? Do you have any hobbies?

"Right now my spare time is taken up by my newborn twin daughters, Lily and Rose. Taking care of those two bundles of joy and relieving my wife so that she can come up for air every now and again is a second full-time job. In that regard, what are these hobbies you speak of?”