Our Research

The primary research interests of the Shackelford Lab focus on uncovering the molecular and metabolic mechanisms driving lung carcinogenesis. Our laboratory is actively identifying and validating new personalized metabolic based therapies to treat lung cancer centered around the unique molecular and metabolic signature each tumor possesses. Our research focuses on three main areas of interest:

1) Defining the molecular mechanisms that drive metabolic adaptation in lung cancer and developing metabolic based therapies for clinical translation.

2) Understanding how deregulation of mitochondrial structure and function impact lung tumor development and progression.

3) Integrating multiple imaging modaliites such as positron emission tomography and 3D electron microscopy to accurate map the tumor cells’ cellular structures and functional metabolism.