Samuel McBrayer, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

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Sam McBrayer received his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from Baylor University and went on to obtain his Ph.D. in cancer biology from Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. At Northwestern, he worked to explain the molecular underpinnings of enhanced glucose transport activity in multiple myeloma in the laboratory of Dr. Steven Rosen. Dr. McBrayer then joined the laboratory of Dr. William G. Kaelin, Jr. at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School as an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellow. During his time in the Kaelin Laboratory, he studied metabolic reprogramming in glioma and developed new strategies for brain tumor therapy.

In 2019, Dr. McBrayer joined the faculty of Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern as an assistant professor in pediatrics. Since then, he has received awards from the National Cancer Institute and the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.

The McBrayer lab is working to identify the metabolic mechanisms that push cells to become cancerous and find new ways to inhibit them. To identify these mechanisms, they study the biology of brain tumors driven by mutations in genes that regulate metabolism. Studying these mutations may reveal fundamental connections between metabolism and other aspects of cell biology that are likely to control cancer formation in many different tissues. These insights hold great promise for the development of new therapies for patients with brain tumors and, by extension, for those with other types of cancer.

Contact Dr. McBrayer

McBrayer Laboratory

Undergraduate

Baylor University (2006), Biochemistry

Graduate School

Northwestern Univ (2012), Cancer Biology

• Biochemistry
• Brain Tumor Biology
• Cancer Biology
• Metabolism
• Mouse Genetics

Featured Publications

Semi-Automated Computational Assessment of Cancer Organoid Viability Using Rapid Live-Cell Microscopy.

Buehler JD, Bird CE, Savani MR, Gattie LC, Hicks WH, Levitt MM, El Shami M, Hatanpaa KJ, Richardson TE, McBrayer SK, Abdullah KG, Cancer Inform 2022 21 11769351221100754

Establishment of patient-derived organoid models of lower grade glioma.

Abdullah KG, Bird CE, Buehler JD, Gattie LC, Savani MR, Sternisha AC, Xiao Y, Levitt MM, Hicks WH, Li W, Ramirez DMO, Patel T, Garzon-Muvdi T, Barnett S, Zhang G, Ashley DM, Hatanpaa KJ, Richardson TE, McBrayer SK, Neuro Oncol 2021 Nov

Deubiquitinases Maintain Protein Homeostasis and Survival of Cancer Cells upon Glutathione Depletion.

Harris IS, Endress JE, Coloff JL, Selfors LM, McBrayer SK, Rosenbluth JM, Takahashi N, Dhakal S, Koduri V, Oser MG, Schauer NJ, Doherty LM, Hong AL, Kang YP, Younger ST, Doench JG, Hahn WC, Buhrlage SJ, DeNicola GM, Kaelin WG, Brugge JS, Cell Metab. 2019 May 29 5 1166-1181.e6

Histone demethylase KDM6A directly senses oxygen to control chromatin and cell fate.

Chakraborty AA, Laukka T, Myllykoski M, Ringel AE, Booker MA, Tolstorukov MY, Meng YJ, Meier SR, Jennings RB, Creech AL, Herbert ZT, McBrayer SK, Olenchock BA, Jaffe JD, Haigis MC, Beroukhim R, Signoretti S, Koivunen P, Kaelin WG, Science 2019 03 363 6432 1217-1222

Peptidic degron for IMiD-induced degradation of heterologous proteins.

Koduri V, McBrayer SK, Liberzon E, Wang AC, Briggs KJ, Cho H, Kaelin WG, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2019 02 116 7 2539-2544

Cells Lacking the RB1 Tumor Suppressor Gene Are Hyperdependent on Aurora B Kinase for Survival.

Oser MG, Fonseca R, Chakraborty AA, Brough R, Spektor A, Jennings RB, Flaifel A, Novak JS, Gulati A, Buss E, Younger ST, McBrayer SK, Cowley GS, Bonal DM, Nguyen QD, Brulle-Soumare L, Taylor P, Cairo S, Ryan CJ, Pease EJ, Maratea K, Travers J, Root DE, Signoretti S, Pellman D, Ashton S, Lord CJ, Barry ST, Kaelin WG, Cancer Discov 2019 02 9 2 230-247

A Phase Ib Trial of CB-839 (Telaglenastat) in Combination with Radiation Therapy and Temozolomide in Patients with IDH-Mutated Diffuse Astrocytoma and Anaplastic Astrocytoma (NCT03528642).

Kizilbash SH, McBrayer SK, Port J, Reid JM, Lanza I, Allred JB, Chakravarti A, Kunos C, Adjei AA, Journal of Clinical Oncology 2019 15 Supplement. 37

Transaminase Inhibition by 2-Hydroxyglutarate Impairs Glutamate Biosynthesis and Redox Homeostasis in Glioma.

McBrayer SK, Mayers JR, DiNatale GJ, Shi DD, Khanal J, Chakraborty AA, Sarosiek KA, Briggs KJ, Robbins AK, Sewastianik T, Shareef SJ, Olenchock BA, Parker SJ, Tateishi K, Spinelli JB, Islam M, Haigis MC, Looper RE, Ligon KL, Bernstein BE, Carrasco RD, Cahill DP, Asara JM, Metallo CM, Yennawar NH, Vander Heiden MG, Kaelin WG, Cell 2018 09 175 1 101-116.e25

Autochthonous tumors driven by Rb1 loss have an ongoing requirement for the RBP2 histone demethylase.

McBrayer SK, Olenchock BA, DiNatale GJ, Shi DD, Khanal J, Jennings RB, Novak JS, Oser MG, Robbins AK, Modiste R, Bonal D, Moslehi J, Bronson RT, Neuberg D, Nguyen QD, Signoretti S, Losman JA, Kaelin WG, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2018 04 115 16 E3741-E3748

Developmental Regulation of Mitochondrial Apoptosis by c-Myc Governs Age- and Tissue-Specific Sensitivity to Cancer Therapeutics.

Sarosiek KA, Fraser C, Muthalagu N, Bhola PD, Chang W, McBrayer SK, Cantlon A, Fisch S, Golomb-Mello G, Ryan JA, Deng J, Jian B, Corbett C, Goldenberg M, Madsen JR, Liao R, Walsh D, Sedivy J, Murphy DJ, Carrasco DR, Robinson S, Moslehi J, Letai A, Cancer Cell 2017 01 31 1 142-156

• Distinguished Scientist Award, Sontag Foundation
  (2021)
• Rising Stars of Cancer Metabolism Runner-Up, New York Academy of Sciences
  (2021)
• Abeloff V Scholar Award, V Foundation for Cancer Research
  (2020)
• NCI K22 Career Transition Award
  (2019)
• Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Young Scholars Symposium
  (2018)
• CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research
  (2018)
• Aspen Cancer Conference Fellow
  (2017)
• DF/HCC Brain SPORE Career Enhancement Program Award
  (2017)
• American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship
  (2014)
• Katten Muchin Rosenman, LLP Scholarship
  (2011)
• NCI T32 Fellowship
  (2008)
• Magna Cum Laude, Baylor University
  (2006)
• Phi Beta Kappa
  (2006)

• American Association for Cancer Research (2021)
• Society for Neuro-Oncology (2021)
• Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center (2019)