Will Oldham

@willoldham.bsky.social

1189 Followers 1188 Following

Scientist, physician, husband, father of daughters. I study how cell metabolism contributes to the lung diseases pulmonary hypertension and fibrosis. oldhamlab.org

We identify alanine as an essential metabolite for fibroblast-to-myofibroblast differentiation. TGF-β engages two parallel mechanisms to maintain intracellular alanine: synthesis by GPT2 and uptake by SLC38A2. Both are upregulated. Disrupting either depletes alanine, stalls glycolysis, and blunts the fibrotic response. The redundancy underscores how central alanine is to activated fibroblast function and suggests a new avenue of exploration for metabolic therapies in pulmonary fibrosis.

Picture of the tall, square, brick tower of one of many palazzos in the old walled city of Lucca, Italy.

A clear glass chromatography column oriented vertically filled with white matrix striped with a red and a brown band separating along the column.

Photo of deepest dish apple pie in front right, chocolate silk pie mid left, and the Smitten Kitchen cookbook by Deb Perelman that contains the recipes for both in the background.