Hayley Affronti
Hayley Affronti is a Lecturer in Biology at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY. Her research and teaching interests are in Cancer with a focus on Cellular and Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. Her current research projects focus on identifying metabolic therapeutic vulnerabilities for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.
Hayley Affronti received her BS in Biochemistry from The College of Saint Rose and her PhD in Cancer Biology from The University at Buffalo through Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. She completed her postdoctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania in 2020 and went on to teach as a faculty member at Siena College in Albany, NY. She joined Vassar College as a Lecturer in Biology in the Fall of 2024. Her teaching interests include Cancer Biology and Metabolism, Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology. Her research interests are in identifying metabolic therapeutic vulnerabilities for treatment of pancreatic cancer. Her focus is on identifying and testing therapies that target one carbon metabolism and polyamine biosynthesis. Polyamines are small metabolites that are important for many cellular processes from DNA synthesis to transcription, translation and post-translational modifications. Pancreatic cells produce high amounts of polyamines and this production is enhanced in pancreatic cancer to support cell proliferation. This increased polyamine biosynthesis places strain on connected metabolic pathways that are upregulated to support this enhanced flux. This strain provides potential therapeutic targets that can be leveraged towards cancer therapies.
Contact
Box 58
Research and Academic Interests
Cancer Biology
Biochemistry
Cellular and Molecular Biology
Cancer Metabolism
Cancer Therapies
Departments and Programs
Courses
BIOC 356 and BIOL 330 Cancer Biology
BIOL 393 Mentored Cancer Research
BIOL 272 Biochemistry
BIOL 107 Energy Flow in Biological Systems
Selected Publications
ACLY alternative splicing correlates with cancer phenotypes. Supplee JG, Affronti HC, Duan R, Brooks RC, Stine ZE, Nguyen PTT, Pinheiro LV, Noji MC, Drummond JM, Huang K, Schultz K, Dang CV, Marmorstein R, Wellen KE.
J Biol Chem. 2024 Jul;300(7):107418. doi: 10.1016/j.jbc.2024.107418. Epub 2024 May 28. PMID: 38815867.
Pharmacological polyamine catabolism upregulation with methionine salvage pathway inhibition as an effective prostate cancer therapy. Affronti HC, Rowsam AM, Pellerite AJ, Rosario SR, Long MD, Jacobi JJ, Bianchi-Smiraglia A, Boerlin CS, Gillard BM, Karasik E, Foster BA, Moser M, Wilton JH, Attwood K, Nikiforov MA, Azabdaftari G, Pili R, Phillips JG, Casero RA Jr, Smiraglia DJ. Nat Commun. 2020 Jan 7;11(1):52. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-13950-4.
ATP-citrate lyase multimerization is required for coenzyme-A substrate binding and catalysis. Bazilevsky GA, Affronti HC, Wei X, Campbell SL, Wellen KE, Marmorstein R. J Biol Chem. 2019 May 3;294(18):7259-7268. doi: 10.1074/jbc.RA118.006685. Epub 2019 Mar 15. PMID: 30877197.
Inhibition of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor/polyamine biosynthesis axis suppresses multiple myeloma. Bianchi-Smiraglia A, Bagati A, Fink EE, Affronti HC, Lipchick BC, Moparthy S, Long MD, Rosario SR, Lightman SM, Moparthy K, Wolff DW, Yun DH, Han Z, Polechetti A, Roll MV, Gitlin II, Leonova KI, Rowsam AM, Kandel ES, Gudkov AV, Bergsagel PL, Lee KP, Smiraglia DJ, Nikiforov MA. J Clin Invest. 2018 Oct 1;128(10):4682-4696. doi: 10.1172/JCI70712. Epub 2018 Sep 10. PMID: 30198908.
Dietary folate levels alter the kinetics and molecular mechanism of prostate cancer recurrence in the CWR22 model. Affronti HC, Long MD, Rosario SR, Gillard BM, Karasik E, Boerlin CS, Pellerite AJ, Foster BA, Attwood K, Pili R, Wilton JH, Campbell MJ, Smiraglia DJ. Oncotarget. 2017 Oct 20;8(61):103758-103774. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.21911. eCollection 2017 Nov 28.
The Bidirectional Relationship Between Cancer Epigenetics and Metabolism. Izzo LT, Affronti HC, Wellen KE. Annu Rev Cancer Biol. 2021 Mar;5(1):235-257. doi: 10.1146/annurev-cancerbio-070820-035832. Epub 2020 Nov 30. PMID: 34109280.
Metastatic phenotype in CWR22 prostate cancer xenograft following castration. Seedhouse SJ, Affronti HC, Karasik E, Gillard BM, Azabdaftari G, Smiraglia DJ, Foster BA. Prostate. 2016 Mar;76(4):359-68. doi: 10.1002/pros.23127. Epub 2015 Dec 8. PMID: 26642837.
Grants, Fellowships, Honors, Awards
NCI Predoctoral to Postdoctoral F99/K00 Transition Award
Photos
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