Designer biology to live image purine metabolism at single-cell resolution

Cells carefully balance how they metabolise nutrients in order to maintain a healthy state, avoid the build-up of toxic chemicals, and to support essential activities such as responding to infection. Conversely, metabolism is frequently altered in disease processes such as cancer and autoimmunity. I am proposing to learn new methods to create sensors that can live-track metabolite levels in individual cells and will utilise it to study a particularly important group of metabolites known as purines. Purines perform several critical functions. For example, they are required as the building blocks for our DNA and as cofactors for the chemical reactions occurring in our cells. I recently discovered a novel role for purine metabolism in controlling inflammation. I will utilise my biosensors, a much needed addition to the metabolism research toolkit, to directly image purine regulation and better understand its role in preventing diseases such as inflammatory arthritis and Crohn's disease.