Ralph DeBerardinis, M.D., Ph.D. Titles and Appointments Director of the Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development; Director, Genetic and Metabolic Disease Program (CRI) Professor & Director Endowed Title Eugene McDermott Distinguished Chair for the Study of Human Growth and Development; Philip O'Bryan Montgomery Jr., M.D., Distinguished Chair in Developmental Biology; Sowell Family Scholar in Medical Research Schools Medical School | Graduate School Departments Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development | Children's Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern | Pediatrics Graduate Programs Cancer Biology, Genetics, Development and Disease You have reached the Academic Profile. For more information on the doctor and patient care, please visit the clinical profile. Biography Download Curriculum Vitae Ralph DeBerardinis earned a B.S. in biology from St. Joseph's University and M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. He performed his Ph.D. research on mammalian retrotransposons with Haig H. Kazazian, Jr. Dr. DeBerardinis was the first trainee in the combined residency program in pediatrics and medical genetics at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and received several awards for teaching and clinical care. He ultimately achieved board certification in pediatrics, medical genetics, and clinical biochemical genetics. Dr. DeBerardinis performed postdoctoral research in Craig Thompson's laboratory at the Penn Cancer Center from 2004 to 2007. He joined the faculty of UT Southwestern Medical Center in 2008 and joined Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern (CRI) in 2011, where he is Director of CRI's Genetic and Metabolic Disease Program. In 2024, Dr. DeBerardinis was appointed Director of the Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development at UT Southwestern. Dr. DeBerardinis received Outstanding Investigator Awards from the National Cancer Institute in 2017 and 2023, and he was named an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 2018. He received the Edith and Peter O'Donnell Award in Medicine from The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas in 2019 and the Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research in 2021. Dr. DeBerardinis holds the Eugene McDermott Distinguished Chair for the Study of Human Growth and Development, the Philip O'Bryan Montgomery Jr., M.D., Distinguished Chair in Developmental Biology, and is a Sowell Family Scholar in Medical Research. In 2020, he was elected to the National Academy of Medicine. The DeBerardinis Lab is interested in the role of altered metabolic states in human diseases, particularly pediatric inborn errors of metabolism and cancer. This research is tightly integrated with clinical activities in medical genetics, oncology, and radiology, providing seamless opportunities to examine the relevance of findings in patients. Education Medical Education University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (2000), Doctor of Medicine/Doctor of Philosophy Residency Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (2005), Pediatrics & Medical Genetics Research Interest Cancer Genetic disorders in children Inborn errors of metabolism Metabolism Publications Methionine Regulates Antitumour Function of CD8+ T Cells Through Polyamine Synthesis Zhao T, Carleton GA, Preshaw S, MacPherson S, Shiyuk M, Monaghan J, Han J, Uchenunu O, Rottapel R, DeBerardinis RJ, Stewart KM, Kim BH, Ausió J, Goodlett DR, Pětrošová H, Duncan KD, Lum JJ Immunology 2026 Nov 179 418-433 MMACHC burden variants are associated with higher circulating vitamin B12 in the All of Us cohort Cai L, DeBerardinis RJ American Journal of Human Genetics 2026 Oct 113 2202-2204 Rare science, real impact: shaping the future of research on rare metabolic diseases Suomalainen A, DeBerardinis RJ, Baruteau J, Puccio H, Otomo T, Falk MJ Nature Metabolism 2026 Oct 8 2045-2047 Author Correction: Characterizing the metabolomes of microglia, astrocytes and neurons in ageing and Alzheimer’s brains Yu J, Li F, Chen XJ, Mou C, Yao D, Bi Z, Chen X, Du L, Feng Z, Zhang X, Yu X, Zacharias LG, DeBerardinis RJ, Zhang L, Li Z, Luo B, Hu XL, Ge WP Nature cell biology 2026 Oct 28 2194 Loss of the mitochondrial SAM transporter reveals a lipoylation-dependent metabolic vulnerability in the postnatal heart Rumyantseva A, Tippetts TS, Wilhalm A, Carter W, Moedas M, Rosenberger FA, Moore D, Végvári Á, Hinze Y, Muellner-Wong L, Alsina D, Wibom R, Winston R, Mathews TP, Lund LH, Andersson DC, Pironti G, Wedell A, DeBerardinis RJ, Freyer C, Wredenberg A Science Advances 2026 Aug 12 Vorasidenib improves response to subsequent chemoradiation in a genetically engineered mouse model of IDH-mutant glioma Shi DD, Calvo Fernández E, Puliyappadamba VT, Lanman TA, Xiao Y, Wen Z, Minor M, Prost D, Lasica AB, Cai F, Neumann E, Gudipelly S, Clark LM, Nguyen QD, Peña S, Wansapura J, Kaphle P, Shipman T, Levitt MM, Lin MD, Tsai AC, Lee JH, Cahill DP, Rahman R, Haas-Kogan DA, Richardson TE, Tirosh I, Jain P, Tron AE, Nakhate V, Youssef G, Dehais C, Jacob J, Reardon DA, Miller JJ, Abdullah KG, Wen PY, Deberardinis RJ, Xu L, Touat M, Peters KB, Gonzalez Castro LN, Kaelin WG, Suvà ML, Mcbrayer SK Science translational medicine 2026 Aug 18 Repeatability of Metabolic Imaging With Hyperpolarized Pyruvate: Back-to-Back Neuroimaging and Blood Analysis Chen J, Lin SH, Sudderth J, Derner KA, Harrison CE, Zaidi M, Baxter JD, Liticker J, Erfani Z, Malloy CR, Pinho MC, DeBerardinis RJ, Park JM Magnetic resonance in medicine 2026 Aug 96 548-556 A transcriptional biosensor reveals mechanisms of α-ketoglutarate signaling to chromatin Sternisha AC, Li H, Gajendra K, Xiao Y, Zhao X, Traylor JI, Guo L, Jun JH, Fleishman M, Shipman T, Puliyappadamba VT, Kaphle P, Ouyang Q, Schmidt M, Shi DD, Savani MR, Tsai AC, Lee JH, Gordillo R, Garcia-Bermudez J, Kim YJ, Tso SC, Brautigam CA, Zacharias LG, Mathews TP, Xu L, Doench JG, Koduri V, Abdullah KG, Agathocleous M, Banaszynski LA, DeBerardinis RJ, Morrow EM, McBrayer SK Science 2026 Jul 393 SLC15A3-mediated dipeptide metabolism confers antimetabolite resistance in lymphoma via mTORC1 activation Yang H, Zingaro VA, Boardman K, Noronha A, Guney E, Xue L, Hoigebazar S, Liu I, Miglani S, Chen S, Vu H, Wen KW, Nguyen HG, Goodarzi H, DeBerardinis RJ, Ruggero D The Journal of clinical investigation 2026 Jul 136 Mitochondria directly interact with the nuclear pore complex Menendez-Montes I, Marin-Vicente C, Mukherjee S, Ahmed MS, Gomez MJ, Anene-Nzelu CG, Lee CJ, Koslowski S, Solmonson A, Tassin T, Ali SR, Pessoa P, Elnwasany A, Lam NT, Thet S, Calvo E, Cardoso AC, Pereira AH, Xiao F, Wang P, Mohamed A, El-feky H, Elghamry A, Gancedo-Alonso G, Nguyen NU, Hsu CC, Westfall AK, DeBerardinis R, Foo RS, Kinter M, Pressé S, Xing C, Szweda L, Aroumougame A, Sanchez-Cabo F, Enriquez JA, Torres M, Vazquez J, Sadek HA Nature 2026 Jun 654 786-797 Results 1-10 of 330 1 2 3 4 5 Next Last Honors & Awards Paul Marks Prize for Cancer Research (2021) National Academy of Medicine (2020) Edith and Peter O'Donnell Award in Medicine (2019) Best Pediatric Specialists/Doctors in DallasD Magazine (2016) (2018) Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator (2018) Howard Hughes Medical Institute Faculty Scholar (2017) NCI Outstanding Investigator (2017) Robert L. Moody, Sr. Faculty Scholar (2017) Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Clinical Investigator Award (2011) President's Research Council Distinguished Young Researcher Award (2008) Soc. for Inherited Metabolic Disorders Neil Buist Award (2008) Sowell Family Scholar in Medical Research (2008) William K. Bowes, Jr. Award in Medical Genetics (2008) CHOP Pediatric Scholars Program & Faculty Honor Roll (2007) American Society for Clinical Investigation Professional Associations/Affiliations American Association for Cancer Research American Society for Clinical Investigation (2013) American Society of Human Genetics Children's Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern (2012) Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (2018) National Academy of Medicine (2020) Society for Inherited Metabolic Disorders Society for Pediatrics Research
