Michail Agathokleous, Ph.D.

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Michalis Agathocleous earned his BA and Ph.D. degrees from Cambridge University, where he studied embryonic retinal development with Professor Bill Harris. He performed postdoctoral work at Cambridge on embryonic cell metabolism as a Research Fellow in Gonville and Caius College. He continued his postdoctoral work at CRI with Professor Sean Morrison on hematopoietic stem cell and leukemia metabolism as a Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 Research Fellow. In 2017 Dr. Agathocleous joined the faculty of the Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern as an Assistant Professor in Pediatrics and a Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) Scholar.

The Agathocleous lab studies how metabolites regulate hematopoietic stem cell function, and how the metabolism of cancer cells compares to the metabolism of the normal stem cells that give rise to cancers. The lab has developed new techniques that allow metabolomic analysis of rare cells from tissues. We are using a combination of mouse genetics, metabolomics and stem cell biology approaches to investigate the role of metabolism in stem cells, during cancer initiation and in infection. 

Agathocleous Laboratory

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Undergraduate

University of Cambridge (2003), Medical Sciences

Graduate School

University of Cambridge (2007), Neuroscience

• Metabolism of hematopoietic stem cells and leukemia cells
• The role of stem cells in infection

Featured Publications

The requirement for pyruvate dehydrogenase in leukemogenesis depends on cell lineage.

Jun S, Mahesula S, Mathews TP, Martin-Sandoval MS, Zhao Z, Piskounova E, Agathocleous M, Cell Metab 2021 Aug

Ascorbate regulates haematopoietic stem cell function and leukaemogenesis.

Agathocleous M, Meacham CE, Burgess RJ, Piskounova E, Zhao Z, Crane GM, Cowin BL, Bruner E, Murphy MM, Chen W, Spangrude GJ, Hu Z, DeBerardinis RJ, Morrison SJ Nature 2017 Aug

Oxidative stress inhibits distant metastasis by human melanoma cells.

Piskounova E, Agathocleous M, Murphy MM, Hu Z, Huddlestun SE, Zhao Z, Leitch AM, Johnson TM, DeBerardinis RJ, Morrison SJ Nature 2015 Oct

A nutrient-sensitive restriction point is active during retinal progenitor cell differentiation.

Love NK, Keshavan N, Lewis R, Harris WA, Agathocleous M Development 2014 Feb 141 3 697-706

Metabolic differentiation in the embryonic retina.

Agathocleous M, Love NK, Randlett O, Harris JJ, Liu J, Murray AJ, Harris WA Nat. Cell Biol. 2012 Aug 14 8 859-64

Maternal vitamin C regulates reprogramming of DNA methylation and germline development.

DiTroia SP, Percharde M, Guerquin MJ, Wall E, Collignon E, Ebata KT, Mesh K, Mahesula S, Agathocleous M, Laird DJ, Livera G, Ramalho-Santos M, Nature 2019 09 573 7773 271-275

Metabolic regulation of stem cell function.

Burgess RJ, Agathocleous M, Morrison SJ J. Intern. Med. 2014 Apr

Metabolism in physiological cell proliferation and differentiation.

Agathocleous M, Harris WA Trends Cell Biol. 2013 Oct 23 10 484-92

A directional Wnt/beta-catenin-Sox2-proneural pathway regulates the transition from proliferation to differentiation in the Xenopus retina.

Agathocleous M, Iordanova I, Willardsen MI, Xue XY, Vetter ML, Harris WA, Moore KB Development 2009 Oct 136 19 3289-99

From progenitors to differentiated cells in the vertebrate retina.

Agathocleous M, Harris WA Annu. Rev. Cell Dev. Biol. 2009 25 45-69

• ASH Faculty Scholar
  (2020-2022)
• Alex's Lemonade Stand A Award
  (2019-2023)
• CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research
  (2017-2022)
• Gonville and Caius College Cambridge Research Fellowship (2007)
  
• Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 Research Fellow (2011)
  

• American Association for Cancer Research (2017)
• International Society for Stem Cell Research (2014)